
Glass _E £.16 
Book- N *3 _ 



^frrtiQHl UEPeSil 



A PUBLIC ^rFICE IF A PUBLIC TRUST. 



HE 



PRESIDENT 




AND HIS 



6/IBIRGT. 




Heating the Progress of the Government 
of the United States tinder the 
Administration o> 



iROVER CLEVELAND 



TO WHICH IS ADDED 



President's Message on the Tariff ' ; the Democratic 
Platform of 1888 ; Letters of Acceptance ; and other 
valuable documents, including a Biography of 

Hon. Allen G. Thurman. 



C. B. NORTON, 

Editor of " Civil Service Chronicle." 



illustrated with Portraits and Views. 






THE PRESIDENT 



AND HIS 

CABINET 

INDICATING THE PROGRESS OF THE GOV- 
ERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES 
UNDER THE ADMINISTRA- 
TION OF 

GROVER CLEVELAND 

BY 

C. B. NORTON 

Editor of the Civil Service Chronicle 
"A PUBLIC OFFICE IS A PUBLIC TRUST" 



ILLUSTRATED WITH PORTRAITS AND VIEIVS^- ■■■ 



BOSTON 

CUPPLES AND HURD, Publishers 

iSSS 




M 






Copyright, 1SS8, 
By C. B. NORTON. 



All Rights Reserved. 



Dedicated to 
Prosper Bender, M. T)., a warm friend and con- 
siderate adviser, by 

C. B. NORTON. 



CONTENTS. 



Introduction • 9 

Chapter I. Cleveland's Early Days . . 17 
Chap. II. Cleveland as Mayor . . 29 

Chap. III. Cleveland as Governor . . 39 
Chap. IV. Cleveland as President . . 55 
Chap. V. The State Department . .103 
Chap. VI. The Treasury Department . 117 
Chap. VII. The„War Department . . 139 

Chap. VIII. The Navy Department . . 153 
Chap. IX. The Post Office Department . 161 
Chap. X. Department of the Interior . 171 
Chap. XI. Department of Justice — Depart- 
ment of Agriculture — Depart- 
ment of Labor — Government 
Printing Office — U. S. Civil 
Service Commission , .191 

Chap. XII. Allen G. Thurman . . . 211 
Chap. XIII. Official Documents . . . 229 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 



Grover Cleveland, President, . . Frontispiece 

The City Hall, Buffalo, N. Y., ... 29 

The State House, Albany, N. Y., . . . 39 

The Executive Mansion, Washington, D. C, . 55 

T. F. Bayard, Secretary of State, . . . 103 

C. S. Fairchild, Secretary of the Treasury, . 117 

Wm. C. Endicott, Secretary of War, . . 139 

W. C. Whitney, Secretary of the Navy, . . 153 

Don M. Dickinson, Postmaster-General, . 161 

Wm. F. Vilas, Secretary of the Interior, . 171 

A. H. Garland, Attorney-General,,. . . 191 
Allen G. Thurman, candidate for Vice-Presi- 
dent, . . . . . . . .211 

Residence of Allen G. Thurman, Columbus, O. 217 

The Capitol, Washington, D. C, . . . 229 



WORDS OF ACKNOWLEDGMENT. 



In the preparation of this work, the writer has had 
recourse to the biographies of Mr. Cleveland published 
in 1884, written by Gen. La Fevre, Deshler Welch, 
Thomas W. Handford, and others, to all of whom he 
desires to express his obligations ; also specially to the 
heads of departments, chief clerks, and other officers of 
the Administration, for their uniform courtesy and kind- 
ness. The admirable portraits of the Cabinet officers 
are from photographs by C. M. Bell ; the one of the 
President, by Merritt & Van Wagner, — all used by per- 
mission, for which thanks are now returned. 

C. B. N. 



INTRODUCTION. 



There can be no doubt that the present condition 
of this country is a very satisfactory one to the ma- 
jority of its citizens. That this is largely due to the 
existence of an honest and thorough business admin- 
istration, and the enforcement of a statesmanlike 
foreign and domestic policy, are facts that hardly any 
but the most bigoted partisan will challenge. 

It is equally true that Grover Cleveland has given 
more time and closer supervision to the duties of his 
office, and administered the affairs of the country 
more safely, economically, and judiciously, than any 
of his predecessors in time of peace. There is no 
department of the government with the work of 
which he is not fully acquainted, and all the officers 
of the government testify to his minute and con- 
scientious inquiry into all matters submitted to him. 
And yet he finds time to receive all callers at the 
White House, which he does with that simple, 
straightforward, and hearty manner which has won 
him the affection and esteem of all who have come 
in contact with him ; even his political opponents do 

9 



IO 



IN TROD UC TION. 



not leave his presence without experiencing the 
greatest respect for their host. 

We think that we may dare to assert that no 
President, since the foundation of the government, 
has shown greater wisdom in the safe guarding of 
the institutions of the country, given more encour- 
agement and judicious protection to our industries, 
inaugurated better or sounder policies, enacted more 
desirable laws, advocated a more beneficial revision 
of the tariff system, or administered the affairs of 
the country with greater integrity or stricter economy 
than Grover Cleveland. 

In brief, Grover Cleveland has been the highest 
exponent of the great principles of Democracy and 
economical government. His past is a pledge for 
the future, and, if he be given an opportunity 
to carry out the reforms he advocates with such 
characteristic courage and patriotism, including the 
revision of the present tariff laws and the reduction 
of the national taxation, a greater era of peace, pros- 
perity, and happiness than ever known in our annals 
is before us. 

With the view of placing before our fellow-citizens 
the practical and beneficial results of the Cleveland 
regime, and to comply with innumerable requests 
for more information concerning the past and present 
of our chief of state, this work has been prepared. 



IN TROD UCTION. 



II 



We shall devote some space to a biographical 
sketch of our illustrious countryman, and give be- 
sides many interesting facts regarding the operation 
of the different departments which he controls, and 
for which he is responsible to the country. 

It will be shown that under 

THE STATE DEPARTMENT 

our foreign relations have steadily and satisfactorily 
improved, that our consular service was never so 
effective, that the valuable weekly and monthly re- 
ports supplied by the consuls are already yielding 
important results, such as the adoption of the sug- 
gestions therein contained by our inventors and man- 
ufacturers, with all the benefits which that implies. 
The effect of the wise and safe financial policy of 

THE TREASURY DEPARTMENT 

will be fully established. Under the able supervision 
of the secretary, the work of the department has 
been greatly simplified and rendered more practi- 
cable. Through the adoption and enforcement of the 
rules of merit service, there has been secured a great 
economy in the general management of the depart- 
ment, while the assurance of permanence in office 
during good behavior has resulted in the best and 
most reliable work being obtained. 



j 2 INTRO D UCTION. 

We will show that 

THE WAR DEPARTMENT 

has not by any means been idle. The appropria- 
tions of Congress have been expended advanta- 
geously and with excellent discrimination, and to-day 
the guns and projectiles manufactured in this coun- 
try compare favorably with those of Europe. 
Through the systematic work of 

THE NAVY DEPARTMENT, 

a navy is being rapidly created which will be a credit 
to the United States. Had not the secretary been 
hampered by the condition of things in the depart- 
ment when he entered the office, more would have 
been accomplished ; but the work achieved thus far 
inspires hope and confidence in the mind of all 
patriotic Americans. 

A pronounced and decided advance has been 
made in 

THE INTERIOR DEPARTMENT, 

particularly in the general land office, through 
which agency there have been redeemed, from the 
hands of jobbers and speculators, millions of acres 
that are now restored to the public domain, and will 
in the course of time be homes for coming genera- 
tions. In the Indian Bureau, where good manage- 
ment and economy are the order of the day, and in 



INTROD UCTION: 



13 



the Bureau of Pensions, Patents, and Education, etc., 
an equally gratifying state of things exists. 

THE POST-OFFICE DEPARTMENT 

presents a remarkable increase in the facilities for 
delivering mails, a great economy in the general 
management of the department, a reduction in the 
rates of postage, and more rapid and certain delivery 
of all mail matter. 

There has also been* a great and marked improve- 
ment in the very important work of 

THE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, • 

under the able and experienced management of the 
attorney-general. There has been a clearing-off of 
the accumulated work on hand, and special attention 
is being paid to the important matter of pardons, 
every case of which receives, in addition, the careful 
consideration of the President himself. 

The farmers of our land have reason to feel grate- 
ful for the work of 

THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, 

which has done so much for the great practical in- 
terests of the country. 

The introduction of new opportunities for the in- 
crease of our agricultural resources will be fully 
shown in the account of this department. 



14 



INTR OD UC TIOJV. 



Under its zealous, capable, and experienced chief, 

THE DEPARTMENT OF LABOR 

is rendering incalculable benefit to this nation at 
large. This is additional evidence that no point is 
overlooked, under the present administration, that 
will benefit our people. 

THE CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSION 

is enoraored in one of the most difficult tasks ever 
attempted in connection with the administration of 
any government. The patience and perseverance of 
the commissioners deserve all praise, and the result 
of their labors will convince our readers of the really 
wonderful progress already secured, cavillers notwith- 

standingr. 

With such a record as the above, is it not reason- 
able to believe that the independent thinker and non- 
partisan voter will unite with the Democratic party to 
secure a perpetuation of so satisfactory a condition 
of things ? With Grover Cleveland at the helm of 
the ship of state, during the next four years, we may 
look forward to broad, liberal, and enlightened tariff 
reform measures, to comprehensive and successful 
financial policies, and to marked progress and effi- 
ciency in the merit service of the United States. 

No man stands higher to-day in the peerage of 
public esteem and affection than Grover Cleveland, 



IX TROD uc now. i 5 

and all true patriots must earnestly desire to see him 
for another term occupy the exalted position of the 
ruler of the destinies of the greatest nation on the 
face of the earth, in which he now figures so credit- 
ably and honorably. 



THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET. 



CHAPTER I. 

Cleveland's early days. 

That the President of the United States occupies 
the highest position among the rulers of the world 
cannot be denied. When we take into considera- 
tion the enormous extent of territory, the large 
and intelligent population, and the varied national- 
ities represented in this country, this fact must be ad- 
mitted. While the Queen of England and Empress 
of India and the Czar of Russia govern millions 
who neither know nor care as to the personality of 
their ruler, the sixty millions of our citizens are all 
interested to know of Grover Cleveland. For that 
reason a sketch of his ancestry and early life is 
here presented, with the view of supplying informa- 
tion from authentic sources and in a popular form 
for the use of the people. 

In 1635, Moses Cleveland came to America from 
Ipswich, Suffolk County, in England ; he died in 
Woburn, Mass., January 9, 1701, and in the old 
graveyard of that town are still standing head- 
stones of English slate which indicate the resting- 
place of Aaron Cleveland, the second son of Moses, 
and the great-grandfather of the President. He 

17 



1 8 THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET. 

was one of the early opponents of slavery, and will 
long be remembered as having introduced a bill in 
the Legislature of the State of Connecticut for its 
abolition. He studied divinity and became a Con- 
gregational minister, and died in New Haven, 1815. 
William, the second son of Aaron Cleveland, and 
the grandfather of the President, was a practical 
silversmith at Beacon Hill, near Norwich, Conn.; 
he retired from business and moved to New York 
State, dying at Black Rock, in 1857. 

Richard F. Cleveland, the second son of William, 
and father of the President, was born in Norwich, 
Conn., 1804. He graduated at Yale College in 
1824, locating in Baltimore as a teacher, and while 
engaged in his duties pursued his studies for the 
ministry. In 1828, he was ordained a Presbyterian 
minister in Windham, near Norwich. The following 
year he married the daughter of Abner Neal of 
Baltimore, and later on settled at Caldwell, N. J. 
Thence he removed to Fayetteville, N. Y., in 1841, 
and in 1847 he was appointed secretary of the 
Home Missionary Society. Six years afterwards he 
was installed at Holland Patent, where he died 
October 1, 1S53, in his fiftieth year. Mrs. Cleve- 
land, mother of the President, died in the same 
place, July 19, 1S82. 

Grover Cleveland was born in Caldwell, N. J., 
March 18, 1837. The house, a small, unpretend- 
ing cottage, still remains, and it has attracted 
many visitors to Caldwell, from its connection with 
the childhood of the President. The father, grand- 
father, and great-grandfather of the President were 
natives of Connecticut. 



CLEVELAND'S EARLY DAYS. 



19 



When Grover Cleveland was five years of age, 
his father became pastor of a church in Fayetteville, 
N. Y., and there the son attended school and was 
for a time a clerk in a country store, thus grow- 
ing up among the people as one of themselves. 
In the character of the President there is evidence 
of the advantages secured by an intermingling of 
the old Puritan stock with that of the Cavaliers 
of Maryland. While the family resided in Clinton, 
the seat of Hamilton College, he continued his 
preparations for entering college. His father's 
health not being satisfactory, another removal was 
made to Holland Patent, where the sudden decease 
of the elder Cleveland changed the future life of the 
son. W r illiam, an elder brother, occupied a respon- 
sible position as instructor in the Institution for the 
Blind in New York City, and, although but sixteen 
years of age, Grover also obtained employment, 
through the influence of Augustus Schell, formerly 
collector of that port. In this position the young 
man did his duty with faithfulness, and it is 
doubtless due to this experience with the blind 
that the President possesses a patience and perse- 
verance for which he has universal credit. After 
some time spent in New York, he determined to go 
West ; but an interview with his uncle, Lewis F. 
Allen, changed his plans, and, through the sugges- 
tions and advice of Mr. Allen, he located in Buffalo, 
entering the law office of Rogers, Bowen & Rogers, 
as an office boy, upon a salary of four dollars a 
week, and walking from his uncle's house, two miles 
from the office, in all weathers. It was a position 
which, in itself, required detail, and Grover Cleve- 



20 THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET. 

land soon indicated his natural tendency to system 
and order, an experience which has largely facili- 
tated him in the control and management of the 
enormous amount of business which now falls to 
him to supervise and complete. He was a hard 
worker, studied his profession carefully in all his 
spare time, and progressed so rapidly as to attract 
the attention of his employers. After four years' 
hard work he became managing- clerk. 

It is stated by those who knew Grover Cleveland 
at this period of his life that he won success by his 
industry, courage, and honesty. He was thorough 
in all he undertook, and, once his convictions were 
formed upon what he believed to be reliable data, 
nothing could change them. In 1859, when he was 
in his twenty-second year, he completed his legal 
studies, passed the necessary examinations, and was 
admitted to the bar. It was at this period in his 
life that he adopted a rule to complete every day's 
work so that it would not have to be done again, 
and the late hours kept by the President at his desk 
in the executive mansion bear testimony to the value 
of a plan which he still adheres to. 

During his connection with the bar at Buffalo, he 
was intrusted with some important cases, which were 
so successfully conducted that he was at once recog- 
nized as a rising man in his profession. On January 
i, 1863, Grover Cleveland was appointed assistant 
district attorney of Erie County. This position was 
a close test of his abilities, and the universally ex- 
pressed opinion of all who knew him was that in 
that office he did an amount of work seldom accom- 
plished. He still maintained his resolution to com- 



CLEVELAND'S EARLY DAYS. 21 

plete the day's duties, and often, when it became 
necessary, could be found busy till an early hour in 
the morning. During- his occupation of the office, 
nearly the entire range of duties fell upon his 
shoulders ; it was just the training he needed, and 
he went into it with all the zeal of youthful aspira- 
tions. He was in attendance at all the grand jury 
meetings during his three-years term of office, and 
presented in full a large majority of the cases. 
However, before the three years had elapsed, the 
people of Buffalo were so well satisfied with the 
colors of Grover Cleveland that he was unanimously 
nominated for district attorney by the Democrats 
of Buffalo, at the age of twenty-nine, but was beaten 
by his intimate personal friend, Lyman K. Bass, with 
whom he afterwards formed a law partnership — in 
1866. Mr. Cleveland formed a partnership with the 
late mayor of Buffalo, I. V. Vanderpoel, which 
lasted till 1869, when he joined the firm of Laning, 
Cleveland & Folsom. In 1870 the friends of 
Grover Cleveland suesfested his name as candidate 

• rr 

for the office of sheriff, and, without any effort on 
his part, he received the unanimous vote of the 
Democratic party, and was elected for three years. 
The office of sheriff is the most important executive 
office in the county, under the system in the State 
of New York. The duties of this position were 
filled by Mr. Cleveland with the same attention and 
business-like fidelity that he had always shown in such 
positions as he had held either in public or private 
life. In this, the first important executive position 
which he had filled, he did justice to himself and to 
those whose confidence he had secured, and by 



22 



THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET. 



whom he was elected. While holding this important 
office, Grover Cleveland's habits were simple and 
unassuming, the fees of the sheriff's office were 
sufficiently large to admit of saving some money, 
and, had he been ambitious in that direction, he could 
have been a rich man. 

At the expiration of his official term as sheriff, in 
1873, he became a member of the firm of Messrs. 
Bass, Cleveland, and Bissell, with Lyman K. Bass 
and Wilson S. Bissell as associates. This was a 
strong and popular firm, and commanded a large 
and lucrative practice. In 1881 a new firm was 
formed, Mr. George J. Sicard being admitted as a 
partner under the firm name of Cleveland, Bissell 
& Sicard, which still exists. It was in this position 
that Mr. Cleveland secured a permanent reputa- 
tion in that section of the State of New York for 
legal acumen and intellectual honesty. His man- 
agement of cases was distinguished by sound views, 
direct simple logic, and a thorough mastery of all 
their intricacies, which secured for him the respect 
of his own profession and the admiration of the 
public. These qualities, combined with the fidelity 
and independence of his official action, naturally 
secured for him the general respect and esteem of 
his fellow-citizens. The best evidence of this are 
the numerous statements that have appeared in type, 
voluntarily contributed by citizens of western New 
York. 

Judge George W. Clinton, the son of Governor 
De Witt Clinton, and vice-chancellor of the Univer- 
sity of New York, chief judge of the Superior Court, 
before whom Grover Cleveland frequently appeared, 



CLEVELAND'S EARLY DAYS. 23 

says of him : "As a lawyer he was known both as 
a counsellor and an advocate, and he often appeared 
before a jury. In his jury addresses he never fired 
over the heads of the jury in rhetorical eloquence. 
He addressed himself to them directly, as an honest, 
sensible man speaking to his fellows, and he won 
his verdicts by his close and full argument, and 
his thorough knowledge of all the evidence in the 
case. He was strictly honorable, and never en- 
deavored to take petty advantages of the opposing 
counsel or of the jury. So keen was his sense of 
honor and justice that it would have gone against 
the grain of his character to have tried to mislead a 
jury if justice was opposed to him. I certainly never 
knew him to make the effort. When he began 
practice his reputation as a lawyer was respectable. 
It rose gradually among the profession until at the 
time he became mayor he can truthfully be said 
to have been eminent at the bar of Erie County." 

Mr. Milburn, a well known lawyer of Buffalo, 
states as follows in reference to Mr. Cleveland : 
" He is a fine lawyer. He is incapable of wilful 
wrong, and nothing on earth could sweep him from 
his conviction of duty. That he is thoroughly 
honest cannot be questioned, and he has always been 
regarded as an able and safe man in every relation of 
life." Mr. James N. Matthews, editor of the leading 
Republican- paper in Buffalo, utters the same senti- 
ments : " I know of no Democrat better equipped 
for the position for which he has been named than 
Grover Cleveland. He is an able, honest, and incor- 
ruptible man. He is self-reliant, and has excellent 
judgment. He has long stood in the front rank 



24 THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET. 

with the very leaders of thought and action in this 
part of New York." At this time, 1881, there was 
a strong revolt against the management of the muni- 
cipal affairs of the city of Buffalo, and in this condi- 
tion of affairs the old party lines were to a certain 
extent disorganized. It had been badly ruled by a 
combination of Republican managers, and many 
voters took exceptions to an extension of this fraud 
and mismanagement. The city was ring-ridden, its 
revenues were stolen or wasted, and no mayor had 
been found, for many years, who possessed the cour- 
age and ability to attack these abuses. To secure 
such a mayor was no easy task. There were many 
who were profuse in their promises, but such pledges 
had been so often broken that the citizens intended 
that no one should be promoted to the place who 
could not give good security by means of an unsul- 
lied reputation and a good record. At this time the 
Democratic party was the party of reform, and 
Grover Cleveland participated in a movement which 
he believed to be just and right. As sheriff of Erie 
County, he secured administrative reform, and the 
respect he received from his fellow-citizens on retir- 
ing from that office is the best testimony to his suc- 
cess. A candidate for mayor was needed whose 
honesty should be unimpeachable, and whose cour- 
age would enable him to stem the torrent of politi- 
cal corruption. The people turned to Grover Cleve- 
land as the man for the occasion. At first he declined ; 
he did not desire the nomination, but suggested the 
names of several prominent Democratic citizens as 
far more available than himself for the position. 
However, the strong pressure brought to bear by 



CLEVELAXD'S EARLY BAYS. 



25 



some of the best men in Buffalo at last convinced 
him of the importance of his acceptance of the nom- 
ination, and he did so. There can be no question 
but that in this case the office sought the man. At 
the Buffalo Democratic City Convention in 1881, in 
accepting the nomination, Grover Cleveland placed 
himself upon a platform which appeals to-day with 
equal force to the entire voting population of these 
United States. He said, " Gentlemen of the Conven- 
tion, I am informed that you have bestowed upon 
me the nomination for the office of mayor. It cer- 
tainly is a great honor to be thought fit to be the 
chief officer of a great and prosperous city like ours, 
having such important and varied interests. I 
hoped that your choice might fall upon some other 
and more worthy member of the city Democracy, for 
personal and private considerations have made the 
question of acceptance on my part a difficult one. 
But because I am a Democrat and because I think 
no one has a right at this time of all others to con- 
suit his own inclinations as against the call of his 
party and fellow-citizens, and hoping that I may be 
of use to you in your efforts to inaugurate a better 
rule in municipal affairs, I accept the nomination 
tendered to me. I believe much can be done to re- 
lieve our citizens from their present load of taxation, 
and that a more rigid scrutiny of all public expendi- 
tures will result in a great saving to the community. 
I also believe that some extravagances in our city 
government may be corrected without injury to the 
public service. There is, or there should be, no 
reason why the affairs of our city should not be 
managed with the same care and the same economy 



2 6 THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET. 

as private interests. And when we consider that 
public officials are the trustees of the people, and 
hold their places and exercise their powers for the 
benefit of the people, there should be no higher in- 
ducement to a faithful and honest discharge of pub- 
lic duty. 

" These are very old truths ; but I cannot forbear 
to speak in this strain to-day, because I believe the 
time has come when the people loudly demand that 
these principles shall be sincerely, and without men- 
tal reservation, adopted as a rule of conduct. And 
I am assured that the result of the campaign upon 
which we enter to-day will demonstrate that the 
citizens of Buffalo will not tolerate the man or the 
party who has been unfaithful to public trusts. I 
say these things to a convention of Democrats, 
because I know that the grand old party is honest, 
and they cannot be unwelcome to you. Let us, 
then, in all sincerity, promise the people an improve- 
ment in our municipal affairs, and, if the opportunity 
is offered to us, as it surely will be, let us faithfully 
keep that promise. By this means, and by this 
means alone, can our success rest upon a firm foun- 
dation, and our party ascendancy be permanently 
assured. Our opponents will wage a bitter and 
determined warfare ; but, with united and hearty 
effort, we shall achieve a victory for our entire 
ticket. And at this day, and with my record before 
you, I trust it is unnecessary for me to pledge to 
you my most earnest endeavors to bring about this 
result; and, if elected to the position for which you 
have nominated me, I shall do my whole duty to 
the party, but none the less, I hope, to the citizens 
of Buffalo." 



CLEVELAND'S EARLY DAYS. 



27 



The result of such an address as this may easily 
be imagined. Speaking, as it did, to the sound, prac- 
tical common-sense of those who listened to it, the 
effect was like magic. Every independent reform 
voter felt that his own views would be carried out 
to the best interests of the city of Buffalo. The 
truth of every word uttered by Grover Cleveland 
was at once admitted, and, up to this time, not even 
his bitterest foe has dared to question the perfect 
honesty of his opinions. No better evidence of the 
non-partisan feeling in Buffalo can be produced 
than the following, from a leading editorial in the 
Buffalo Express, a well known and prominent 
Republican paper, — "The Man for Mayor." " Cir- 
cumstances seem at last to have brought to the 
front the right man for this great place, and it only 
remains to be seen whether the people will have 
wisdom enough to put him in it. We know Grover 
Cleveland. Nearly all of his fellow-citizens are 
aware of his distinguished abilities and reputation 
as a lawyer, of his great personal worth, of his 
unswerving uprightness, and of his high moral cour- 
age. But we know something more than all this. 
It has happened to us to have personal experience 
of that sleepless vigilance, that tireless devotion, 
that singular penetration, and that broad good judg- 
ment which Mr. Cleveland has always displayed in 
the interest of his clients, and from which so many 
have reaped the reward of a righteous verdict. If 
he is mayor, the city will be to him as his client, — 
as a client standing more sorely in need of all his 
best endeavors than any one he ever served 
before, — and woe would be to the man that should 



28 THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET. 

attempt to rob or -otherwise wrong her." What 
better statement can be put before the people of 
the United States than the evidence that this hon- 
esty of purpose, this decision of character, this care 
for the public welfare, has consistently been the aim 
of Grover Cleveland, as mayor of Buffalo, Governor 
of the Empire State, and President of the United 
States ! 



CHAPTER II. 

GROVER CLEVELAND AS MAYOR. 

Reform was the watchword which elected Mr. 
Cleveland mayor of the city of Buffalo. This election 
was in itself an almost unparalleled triumph, demon- 
strating the confidence which the people had in his 
integrity, and his special fitness to carry out the 
needed reforms in the city government, and it 
settled the issue of the hour, that it was possible to 
secure by a popular election that kind of integrity 
and sagacity that would administer the people's 
affairs with the honesty and discretion that was nec- 
essary to good government. Upon his inauguration 
as mayor, he took occasion immediately to reiterate 
the principles of action which he had affirmed in his 
speech accepting the nomination. So soon as he 
was elected, he devoted his time to a careful study 
of the departments of the city government, and he 
made it clear, too, that in all of these and in all sub- 
ordinate positions he was firmly determined that the 
principles he had laid down for himself should be 
implicitly obeyed by others. In his inaugural mes- 
sage to the common council of Buffalo, on January 
2, 1882, he set forth these principles in the following 
vigorous and direct lanoaiag-e : — 

29 



3Q 



THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET. 



To the Honorable the Common Council of the City of 

Buffalo. 

In presenting to you my first official communication, I am by 
no means unmindful of the fact that I address a body many of 
the members of which have had quite a large experience in 
municipal affairs, and which is directly charged, more than any 
other instrumentality, with the management of the government 
of the city, and the protection of the interest of all the people 
within its limits. This condition of things creates grave respon- 
sibilities, which I have no doubt you fully appreciate. It may 
not be amiss, however, to remind you that our fellow-citizens, 
just at this time, are particularly watchful of those in whose 
hands they have placed the administration of the city govern- 
ment, and demand of them the most watchful- care and con- 
scientious economy. We hold the money of the people in our 
hands, to be used for their purposes, and to further their inter- 
ests as members of the municipality; and it is quite apparent 
that, when any part of the ftinds which the taxpayers have thus 
intrusted us are diverted to other purposes, or when by design 
or neglect we allow a greater sum to be applied to any munici- 
pal purpose than is necessary, we have to that extent violated 
our duty. There surely is no difference in his duties and obli- 
gations whether a person is intrusted with the money of one 
man or many. And yet it sometimes appears as though the 
office-holder assumes that a different rule of fidelity prevails 
between him and the taxpayer than that which should regulate 
his conduct when as an individual he holds the money of his 
neighbor. 

It seems to me that a successful and faithful administration 
of the government of our city may be accomplished by con- 
stantly bearing in mind that we are the trustees and agents of 
our fellow-citizens, holding their funds in sacred trust, to be 
expended for their benefit; that we should at all times be pre- 
pared to render an honest account of them, touching the man- 
ner of their expenditure, and that the affairs of the city should 
be conducted, as far as possible, upon the same principles as a 
good business man manages his private concerns. And I 
perhaps should do no less then than to assure your honorable 
body that, so far as it is in my power, I shall be glad to coop- 
erate with you in securing the faithful performance of official 
duty in every department of the city government. 



G ROVER CLEVELAND AS MAYOR. -> r 

It was at the time when Grover Cleveland was 
elected mayor of Buffalo that the subject of civil 
service reform commenced to attract serious atten- 
tion, and it can be stated with truth that he was one 
of the first to give it practical use. In his inaugural 
message, referring to the office of city auditor, he 
said, — "It seems to me that the duties which 
should be performed by this officer have been 
entirely misapprehended. I understand that it has 
been supposed that he does all that is required of 
him when he tests the correctness of the extensions 
and footings of an account presented to him, copies 
the same in a book, and audits the same as charged, 
if the extensions and footings are found correct. 
This work is certainly not difficult, and might well 
be done by a lad but slightly acquainted with figures. 
The charter requires that this officer ' shall examine 
and report upon all unliquidated claims against the 
city, before the same shall be audited by the common 
council.' Is it not very plain that the examination 
of a claim means something more than the footing 
of the account by which that claim is represented ? 
And is it not equally plain that the report provided 
for includes more than the approval of all accounts 
which on their face appear correct? There is no 
question but that he should inquire into the merits 
of the claims presented to him, and he should be 
fitted to do so by a familiarity with the value of the 
articles and services embodied in the accounts. In 
this way, he may protect the interest of the city; 
otherwise, his services are worse than useless, so far 
as his action is relied upon." As regards the duties 
of officials, Mayor Cleveland was equally strong and 



32 THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET. 

definite. " I am utterly unable to discover any valid 
reason why the city offices should be closed, and the 
employes released from their duties, at the early 
hour in the day which seems now to be regarded as 
the limit of a day's work. I am sure no man would 
think an active private business was well attended 
to if he and all his employes ceased work at four 
o'clock in the afternoon. The salaries paid by the 
city, to its officers and their employes, entitle it to 
a fair day's work. Besides, these offices are for the 
transaction of public business, and the convenience 
of all our citizens should be consulted in respect to 
the time during which they should remain open. 

" I suggest the passage of an ordinance prescribing 
such hours for the opening and » closing of the city 
offices as shall subserve the public convenience. It 
would be very desirable if some means could be 
devised to stop the practice, so prevalent among 
our city employes, of selling or assigning in advance 
their claims against the city for services to be ren- 
dered. The ruinous discounts charged and allowed 
greatly diminish the reward of their labors. In many 
cases, habits of improvidence and carelessness are 
engendered, and in all cases this hawking and traf- 
ficking in claims against the city presents a humili- 
ating: soectacle. In conclusion, I desire to disclaim 
any dictation as to the performance of your duties. 
I recognize fully the fact that with you rests the 
responsibility of all legislation which touches the 
prosperity of the city and the correction of abuses. 
I do not arrogate to myself any great familiarity with 
municipal affairs, nor any superior knowledge of 
the city's needs. I speak to you not only as the 



G ROVER CLEVELAND AS MAYOR. 



33 



chief executive officer of the city, but as a citizen 
proud of its progress and commanding position. In 
this spirit the suggestions contained herein are made. 
If you deem them worthy of consideration, I shall 
still be anxious to aid the adoption and enforcement 
of any measures which you may inaugurate looking 
to the advancement of the interests of the city and 
the welfare of its inhabitants." 

These words afforded ample evidence to the 
fellow-citizens of Grover Cleveland that in his 
election they had secured the purification of the 
municipal government, the hope of which had con- 
tributed so much to the great majority by which the 
election had been carried. His views regarding the 
freedom of the citizens are best understood from 
the remarks made at a mass meeting of Irish-Amer- 
ican citizens, at which Mayor Cleveland presided. 
He spoke as follows: "Fellow-Citizens: This is 
the formal mode of address on occasions of this 
kind, but I think we seldom realize fully its meaning, 
or how valuable a thing it is to be a citizen. From 
the earliest civilization, to be a citizen has been to be 
a free man, endowed with certain privileges and 
advantages, and entitled to the full protection of the 
state. The defence and protection of the personal 
rights of its citizens has always been the paramount 
and most important duty of a free, enlightened 



government. 



" And perhaps no government has this sacred 
trust more in its keeping than this, the best and 
freest of them all, for here the people who are to be 
protected are the source of those powers which they 
delegate upon the express compact that the citizens 



34 



THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET. 



shall be protected. For this purpose we choose 
those who, for the time being, shall manage the 
machinery which we have set up for our defence 
and safety. And this protection adheres to us in all 
lands and places as an incident of citizenship. Let 
but the weight of a sacrilegious hand be put upon 
this sacred thing, and a great strong government 
springs to its feet to avenge the wrong. Thus it is 
that the native-born American citizen enjoys his 
birthrights. But when, in the westward march of 
empire, this nation was founded and took root, we 
beckoned to the old world and invited hither its 
immigration, and provided a mode by which those 
who sought a home among" us might become our 

r 11 • • 

fellow-citizens. They came by thousands and hun- 
dreds of thousands ; they came and 

Hewed the dark old woods away, 
And gave the virgin fields to day. 

They came with strong sinews and brawny arms to 
aid in the growth and progress of a new country ; 
they came and upon our altars laid their fealty and 
submission ; they came to our temples of justice, 
and under the solemnity of an oath renounced all 
allegiance to every other state, potentate, and sover- 
eignty, and surrendered to us all the duty pertaining 
to such allegiance. We have accepted their fealty, 
and invited them to surrender the protection of 
their native land. 

" And what should we give them in return ? Man- 
ifestly, good faith and every dictate of honor demand 
that we give them the same liberty and protection 
here and elsewhere which we vouchsafe to our 



G ROVER CLEVELAND AS MAYOR. 



35 



native-born citizens. And that this has been 
accorded to them is the crowning glory of American 
institutions. It needed not the statute which is now 
the law of the land, declaring that ' all naturalized 
citizens while in foreign lands are entitled to and 
shall receive from this government the same 
protection of person and property which is ac- 
corded to native-born citizens,' to voice the policy 
of our nation. In all lands where the semblance 
of liberty is preserved, the right of a person 
arrested to a speedy accusation and trial is or ought 
to be a fundamental law, as it is a rule of civiliza- 
tion. At any rate, we hold it to be so, and this is 
one of the rights which we undertake to guarantee 
to any native-born or naturalized citizen of ours, 
whether he be imprisoned by order of the Czar of 
Russia or under the pretext of a law administered 
for the benefit of the landed aristocracy of England. 
We do not claim to make laws for other countries, 
but we do insist that, whatsoever these laws may be, 
they shall, in the interests of human freedom and 
the rights of mankind, so far as they involve the 
liberty of our citizens, be speedily administered. 
We have a right to say, and do say, that mere sus- 
picion, without examination or trial, is not sufficient 
to justify the long imprisonment of a citizen of 
America. Other nations may permit their citizens to 
be thus imprisoned. Ours will not. And this, in 
effect, has been solemnly declared by statute. We 
have met here to-night to consider this subject, and 
to inquire into the cause and the reasons and the 
justice of the imprisonment of certain of our fellow- 
citizens now held in British prisons without the 



36 THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET. 

semblance of a trial or legal examination. Our 
law declares that the government shall act in such 
cases. But the people are the creators of the 
government. The undaunted apostle of the Chris- 
tian religion, imprisoned and persecuted, appealing 
centuries ago to the Roman law and the rights of 
Roman citizenship, boldly demanded, ' Is it lawful 
for you to secure a man that is a Roman and un- 
condemned ? ' So, too, might we ask, appealing to 
the law of our land and the laws of civilization, ' Is 
it lawful that these, our fellows, be imprisoned, who 
are American citizens and uncondemned ? ' I deem 
it an honor to be called upon to preside at such a 
meeting, and I thank you for it." This frank, 
honest, and manly statement as to the rights of our 
foreign-born citizens in other lands secured for Mr. 
Cleveland the unswervingf attachment of our Irish 
fellow-citizens, who have ever remained his warm 
friends. 

Grover Cleveland has secured for himself the 
honorable titles of Veto Mayor, Veto Governor, and 
Veto President; honorable because that in every 
instance the reasons for his vetoes were of such a 
character as to at once impress the good sound com- 
mon-sense of the country that they were based on 
good grounds, and were the only means by which 
fraud and corruption could be stamped out forever. 
While the mayor may have made some enemies 
among those whose plans for extravagance were in- 
terrupted, and others whose interests were affected, 
yet it is a most gratifying fact that the large mass of 
his fellow-citizens were heartily with him in his 
efforts to do the best in his power for the good of 
the city, without regard to friend or foe. 



G ROVER CLEVELAND AS MAYOR. 37 

There were also many instances where expendi- 
tures of money, right enough in themselves, were 
yet in direct violation of the city charter or the con- 
stitution. The legal and acutely honest mind of the 
mayor at once noted these objections, and never 
hesitated to apply the veto when necessary. A very 
interesting case, attracting much attention, was in 
connection with an appropriation which had passed 
the city council, for the benefit of a benevolent in- 
stitution. The mayor, in his veto message, said : — 

I have taxed my ingenuity to discover a way to consist- 
ently approve of this resolution, but have been unable to do so. 
It seems to me that it is not only obnoxious to the provisions of 
the constitution above quoted, but that it also violates that sec- 
tion of the charter of the city which makes it a misdemeanor 
to appropriate money raised for one purpose to any other 
object. Under this section, I think, money raised " for the cele- 
bration of the Fourth of July and the reception of distinguished 
persons " cannot be devoted to the observance of Decoration 
Day. I deem the object of this appropriation a most worthy 
one. The efforts of our veteran soldiers to keep alive the mem- 
ory of their fallen comrades certainly deserve the aid and en- 
couragement of their fellow-citizens. We should all, I think, 
feel it a duty and a privilege to contribute to the funds neces- 
sary to carry out such a purpose, and I should be much disap- 
pointed if an appeal to our citizens for voluntary subscriptions 
for this patriotic object should be in vain. ... I cannot rid 
myself of the idea that this city government, in its relation to 
the taxpayers, is a business establishment, and that it is placed 
in our hands to be conducted on business principles. This 
theory does not admit of our donating the public funds in the 
manner contemplated by the action of your honorable body. 
I deem it my duty, therefore, to return both the resolutions re- 
ferred to without my approval. 

Grover Cleveland. 

In this connection it may be mentioned that the 
mayor put his hand in his pocket, and made a liberal 



38 



THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET. 



subscription towards the expenses of Decoration 
Day. As may well have been expected, his adminis- 
tration of the government of the city of Buffalo upon 
business principles was a pronounced success. A 
very large amount of money was saved to the voters 
under his management, and the city improved in 
every direction. The natural result of this success- 
ful reform movement on the part of Grover Cleve- 
land was to turn the attention of the people of the 
Empire State to the value of his services, and in the 
line of promotion he was selected as the proper can- 
didate for the position of Governor of the State of 
New York, and was elected by nearly two hundred 
thousand majority. 



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• ..J- III f 








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m m 


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THE CAPITOL, ALBANY, N.Y. 



CHAPTER III. 

GROVER CLEVELAND AS GOVERNOR. 

The best evidence as to the fitness of Grover 
Cleveland for the office of Governor of the Empire 
State is the following panegyric of that able and 
well known Republican journal The Buffalo Ex- 
press: 

The most promising and prominent of the possible candi- 
dates for Governor of New York, on the Democratic side, is a 
man who, this time last year, had hardly been thought of as a 
candidate for mayor of Buffalo. It was with the utmost diffi- 
culty that he could be persuaded to accept that nomination. He 
didn't want the office. Only at a great sacrifice of professional 
income and comfort could he discharge its duties. An election 
could not gratify his ambition, if he had any, because, many 
years before, he had filled a more lucrative public position, and 
•one that was more desirable to any man who cared to be an influ- 
ential practical politician. He had no such desire. But, after 
much importunity, with extreme genuine reluctance, he at length 
yielded his own preference and allowed his friends to nominate 
him. He was elected by a majority of three thousand five hun- 
dred and thirty, the largest majority ever given to any candidate 
for that office, though running on the Democratic ticket, and in 
a city which at the same time gave a majority of one thousand 
six hundred and twenty-four for the Republican State ticket, and 
his administration of the office has fully justified the partiality 
of the friends who insisted upon nominating him, and vindicated 
the good judgment of the people who so powerfully insisted upon 
electing him. It is not too much to say that in the first half of 
his first year he has almost revolutionized our municipal govern- 

39 



40 



THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET. 



ment. With no more power then his predecessors had, he has 
inaugurated reforms heretofore only hoped for, and corrected 
abuses which had become almost venerable. Accounts against 
the city are now thoroughly audited, since he pointed out what 
is required of an officer whose duty it is to audit. The whole- 
some rule of competition has been adopted for important work 
hitherto given out in the form of political patronage. So far as 
one man can, he sees to it that the city gets the full value of its 
money. He knows his power and is not afraid to use it. He 
has conquered the most corrupt combination ever formed in the 
council. His veto messages have become municipal classics. 
Knowing his duty, he has faithfully performed it, — with what 
benefit to the public, can hardly be overestimated. 

Statements of this stamp in prominent Repiibli- 
can journals had great weight in the approaching 
election for Governor, and it is not at all surprising 
that Grover Cleveland received a majority of 192,854, 
being nearly four times the majority received by 
either Grant for President in 1872, or Tilden for 
Governor in 1874. The New York Sun, edited by 
Charles A. Dana, heartily endorsed the nomination 
of Cleveland, and editorially said, " Grover Cleveland, 
now mayor of Buffalo and the Democratic candidate 
for Governor of New York, is a man worthy of the 
highest -public confidence. No one can study the 
record of his career since he has held office in Buffalo, 
without being convinced that he possesses those 
highest qualities of a public man, sound principles of 
administrative duty, luminous intelligence, and cour- 
age to do what is right no matter who may be 
pleased or displeased thereby. . . . No matter what 
political faith a man now prefer to be called, no one 
can consider such principles and sentiments as those 
declared by Mr. Cleveland without feeling that such 
a public officer is worthy of the confidence and sup- 



GROVEK CLEVELAND AS GOVERNOR. 



41 



port of the whole people, and that the interests of 
the Empire State will be entirely safe in his hands." 
The best evidence of the sterling- honesty and 
ability of Mr. Cleveland, of his determination to act 
justly, without regard to party, and his special atten- 
tion to great public trust, may be found in his letter 
accepting the nomination, which we give herewith in 
full, and beg to call the special attention of all of our 
readers to its hio;h tone, dignified utterances, and 
yet its perfect simplicity and easily understood state- 
ments, making it a primer for the people. 

MR. CLEVELAND'S LETTER. 

Buffalo, October 7, 18S2. 
Hon. Thomas C. E. Ecclesine, Chairman, etc. : 

Dear Sir, I beg to acknowledge the receipt of your letter, 
informing me of my nomination for Governor by the Democratic 
State convention, lately held at the city of Syracuse. 

I accept the nomination thus tendered to me, and trust that, 
while I am gratefully sensible of the honor conferred, I am also 
properly impressed with the responsibilities which it invites. 

The platform of principles adopted by the convention meets 
with my hearty approval. The doctrines therein enunciated are 
so distinctly and explicitly stated that their amplification seems 
scarcely necessary. If elected to the office for which I have 
been nominated, I shall endeavor to impress them upon my ad- 
ministration and make them the policy of the State. 

Our citizens for the most part attach themselves to one or 
the other of the great political parties ; and under ordinary cir- 
cumstances they support the nominees of the party to which 
they profess fealty. It is quite apparent that under such cir- 
cumstances the primary election or caucus should be surrounded 
by such safeguards as will secure absolutely five and uncon- 
trolled action. Here the people themselves are supposed to 
speak; here they put their own hands to the machinery of gov- 
ernment, and in this place should be found the manifestations 
of the popular will. When by fraud, intimidation, or any other 
questionable practice the voice of the people is here smothered, 



42 



THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET. 



a direct blow is aimed at a most precious right, and one which 
the law should be swift to protect. If the primary election is 
uncontaminated and fairly conducted, those there chosen to rep- 
resent the people will go forth with the impress of the people's 
will upon them, and the benefits and purposes of a truly repre- 
sentative government will be attained. 

Public officers are the servants and agents of the people to 
execute laws which the people have made, and within the limits 
of a constitution which they have established. Hence the in- 
terference of officials of any degree, and whether state or federal, 
for the purpose of thwarting or controlling the popular wish, 
should not be tolerated. 

Subordinates in public place should be selected and retained 
for their efficiency, and not because they may be used to ac- 
complish partisan ends. The people have a right to demand, 
here as in cases of private employment, that their money be 
paid to those who will render the best service in return, and 
that the appointment to and tenure of such places should depend 
upon ability and merit. If the clerks and assistants in public 
departments were paid the same compensation and required to 
do the same amount of work as those employed in prudently 
\ conducted private establishments, the anxiety to hold these 
public places would be much diminished, and, it seems to me, 
the cause of civil service reform materially aided. 

The system of levying assessments for partisan purposes 
on those holding office or place cannot be too strongly con- 
demned. Through the thin disguise of voluntary contributions, 
this is seen to be naked extortion, reducing the compensation 
which should be honestly earned, and swelling a fund used to 
debauch the people and defeat the popular will. 

I am unalterably opposed to the interference by the Legis- 
lature with the government of municipalities. I believe in the 
intelligence of the people when left to an honest freedom in 
their choice, and that when the citizens of any section of the 
State have determined upon the details of a local government 
they should be left in the undisturbed enjoyment of the same. 
The doctrine of home rule, as I understand it, lies at the 
^foundation of republican institutions, and cannot be too 
strongly insisted upon. 

Corporations are created by the law for certain defined 
purposes and are restricted in their operations by specific 



GROVE R CLEVELAND AS GOVERNOR. 



43 



limitations. Acting within their legitimate sphere, they should 
be protected ; but when by combination or by the exercise of 
unwarranted power they oppress the people, the same authority 
which created should restrain them and protect the rights of 
the citizen. The law lately passed for the purpose of adjust- 
ing the relations between the people and corporations should 
be executed in good faith, with an honest design to effectuate 
its objects and with a due regard for the interest involved. 

The laboring classes constitute the main part of our popu- 
lation. They should be protected in their efforts peaceably 
to assert their rights when endangered by aggregated capital, 
and all statutes on this subject should recognize the care of 
the State for honest toil and be framed with a view of improv- 
ing the condition of the workingman. 

We have so lately had a demonstration of the value of our 
citizen soldiery in time of peril that it seems to me no argu- 
ment is necessary to prove that it should be maintained in 
a state of efnciencv, so that its usefulness shall not be impaired. 

Certain amendments to the Constitution of our State, involv- 
ing the management of our canals, are to be passed upon at 
the coming election. This subject affects divers interests and 
of course gives rise to opposite opinions. It is in the hands 
of the sovereign people for final settlement; and, as the ques- 
tion is thus removed from State legislation, any statement of 
my opinion in regard to it, at this time, would, I think, be out 
of place. I am confident that the people will intelligently 
examine the merits of the subject and determine where the 
preponderance of interest lies. 

The expenditure of money to influence the action of the 
people at the polls, or to secure legislation, is calculated to 
excite the gravest concern. When this pernicious agency is 
successfully employed, a representative form of government 
becomes a sham ; and laws passed under its baleful influence 
cease to protect, but are made the means by which the rights 
of the people are sacrificed, and the public treasury despoiled. 
It is useless and foolish to shut our eyes to the fact that this 
evil exists among us; and the party which leads in an honest 
effort to return to better and purer methods will receive the 
confidence of our citizens and secure their support. It is 
wilful blindness not to see that the people care but little for 
party obligations, when they are invoked to countenance and 



44 



THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET. 



sustain fraudulent and corrupt practices. And it is well for 
our country and for the purification of politics that the people, 
at times fully roused to danger, remind their leaders that party 
methods should be something more than a means used to 
answer the purposes of those who profit by political occupation. 

The importance of wise statesmanship in the management 
of public affairs cannot, I think, be overestimated. I am 
convinced, however, that the perplexities and the mystery 
often surrounding the administration of State concerns grow, 
in a great measure, out of an attempt to serve partisan ends 
rather than the welfare of the citizen. 

We may, I think, reduce to quite simple elements the duty 
which public servants owe, by constantly bearing in mind that 
they are put in place to protect the rights of the people, to 
answer their needs as they arise, and to expend for their 
benefit the money drawn from them by taxation. 

I am profoundly conscious that the management of the 
divers interests of a great State is not an easy matter; but I 
believe, if undertaken in the proper spirit, all its real difficulties 
will yield to watchfulness and care. 

Yours respectfully, 

Grover Cleveland. 

This admirable letter of acceptance attracted im- 
mediate attention, and the comments of the press 
on all sides were most favorable. The New York 
Herald expressed an editorial opinion as follows : — 

There is something direct, fresh, and wholesome about this 
letter of Mr. Cleveland which encourages one to hope that the 
era of young men has really come, of which we have heard 
much this past summer. Anything more different from the usual 
platitudes of the old war-horses, to which the public has been 
too long accustomed, it would be difficult to imagine. Without 
the least air of dogmatism or any sniff of peculiar virtue, Mr. 
Cleveland briefly recalls to the public recollection a few facts 
which our political masters have for some years tried to have 
forgotten. For our own part we confess that the passage 
which strikes us as the most significant in the letter is that in 
which Mr. Cleveland writes : " I am convinced that the per- 
plexities and the mystery often surrounding the administration 



G ROVER CLEVELAND AS GOVERNOR. 



45 



of Stale concerns grow in a great measure out of an attempt 
to serve partisan ends rather than the welfare of the citizens. 
We may, I think, reduce to quite simple elements the duty 
which public servants owe by constantly bearing in mind that 
they are put in place to protect the rights of the people, to 
answer their needs as they arise, and to expend for their bene- 
fit the money drawn from them by taxation." 

That is sound, clear, common-sense. There is no mystery 
or difficulty about free government, requiring great statesman- 
ship or supereminent genius. Free government means at bot- 
tom the least possible interference with the liberty of action of 
the individual. It is a hopeful sign in our politics that a can- 
didate for the great office of Governor of New York remembers 
this. It is natural that with this wholesome thought on his 
mind he should select for the topics on which he briefly touches 
mainly the questions which concern the correct ascertainment 
of the will of the people ; the freedom and purity of primary 
elections, by which the people denote whom they wish to be 
candidates for office ; the non-interference by public officers 
and corporations with the elections, hence the wrong of politi- 
cal assessments, used always in attempts to defeat the popular 
will ; the necessity of local self government for the reform and 
purification of municipal administration, and so on. 

There are no sounding promises, no recitals of recondite 
statesmanlike policies in this plain, blunt letter of Mr. Cleve- 
land. But it reads to us like the letter of an intelligent Ameri- 
can who has thought enough about free government to let him 
see that it needs in rulers mainly good sense, honesty, and 
courage, and who has no nonsense about him. 

Upon the publication of the letter of acceptance, 
public opinion in the State of New York all went 
one way, political partisanship in a large measure 
disappeared and there was but one feeling, to secure 
the election of the best man. The Republicans of 
New York, with Stewart L. Woodford at the head, 
and Independents led by George William Curtis, 
all united in the support of the reform candidate 
for Governor. Thousands of Republicans led by 



4 5 THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET. 

the Young Men's Club of Brooklyn voted for 
Cleveland, and he swept the State like a tidal wave, 
carrying all before him. He was not elected solely 
by his party, but, as in his election for mayor, the 
Democratic vote was supplemented by that of every 
thinking man having the interests of his State at 
heart, without reference to partisan politics. He 
was Reform Mayor and Reform Governor and is 
now Reform President. Grover Cleveland took his 
office as Governor with the same simple manner 
that has always characterized him. His inaugural 
message had the true ring, and, being thoroughly 
characteristic of the man, we give space to such 
portions as are of the greatest importance. 

THE INAUGURAL MESSAGE. 

Executive Chamber, Albany, January 2, 1883. 
To the Legislature, — In obedience to the provisions of 
the Constitution, which directs that the Governor shall commu- 
nicate to the Legislature, at every session, the condition of the 
State, and recommend such matters to them as he shall judge 
expedient, I transmit this, my first annual message, with the 
intimation that a newly elected executive can hardly be pre- 
pared to present a complete exhibit of State affairs, or to submit 
in detail a great variety of recommendations for the action of 
the Legislature. . . . 

just and equable taxation. 

The aggregate receipts of the State Treasury during the last 
fiscal year, including a balance from the previous year amount- 
ing to $5,531,858.71, were $i7,735'7 6l -59 5 the payments during 
the same period amounted to $13,898,198.21, leaving a balance 
in the treasury at the beginning of the current fiscal year of 

^3 5 837,563-38. 

The amount received from taxes on corporations during the 
last fiscal year was $1,539,684.27, being an increase of 
$446,959.11 over the previous year. 



G ROVER CLEVELAND AS GOVERNOR. 47 

The rate of taxation for the current fiscal year was fixed by 
the last Legislature at 2/,,% mills on the dollar. This, it is 
estimated, will yield, on the present valuation of property, a 
revenue of $6,820,022.29. 

The imperfection of our laws touching the matter of taxation, 
or the faulty execution of existing statutes on the subject, is 
glaringly apparent. 

The power of the State to exact from the citizen a part of his 
earnings and income for the support of the government, it is 
obvious, should be exercised with absolute fairness and justice. 
When it is not so exercised, the people are oppressed. This 
furnishes the highest and the best reason why laws should be 
enacted and executed, which will subject all property, as all 
alike need the protection of the State, to an equal share in the 
burdens of taxation, by means of which the government is 
maintained. And yet it is notoriously true that personal prop- 
ertv, not less remunerative than land and real estate, escapes to 
a very great extent the payment of its fair proportion of the 
expense incident to its protection and preservation under the 
law. The people should always be able to recognize, with the 
pride and satisfaction which are the strength of our institutions, 
in the conduct of the State the source of undiscriminating 
justice, which can give no pretext for discontent. . . . 

THE STATE PRISONS AND HONEST LABOR. 

If these penal institutions are self-sustaining, without injury or 
embarrassment to honest labor, it is a matter for congratula- 
tion ; but it is, at least, very questionable whether the State 
should go further and seek to realize a profit from its convict 
labor. In my judgment, it should not, especially if the danger 
of competition between convicts and those who honestly toil is 
thereby increased, and the overcrowding of any of the prisons, 
with its attendant evils, is the result. . . . 

IMMIGRATION. 

During the year the State Board of Charities has returned to 
various countries of Europe forty-eight lunatic, idiotic, crippled, 
blind, and otherwise disabled alien paupers, who had been 
deliberately shipped to our shores by the authorities of foreign 
cities and towns, or by relatives, guardians, and friends, in order 



43 



THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET 



to shift the burden of their support to our public charities. It 
is to be hoped that the continued return of such unfortunates to 
those who should legally and naturally provide for them will in 
time discourage such mean and disgraceful attempts to evade a 
plain and humane duty. . . . 

CIVIL SERVICE REFORM. 

It is submitted that the appointment of subordinates in the 
several State departments, and their tenure of office or employ- 
ment, should be based upon fitness and efficiency, and that this 
principle should be embodied in legislative enactment, to the 
end that the policy of the State may conform to the reasonable 
public demand on that subject. . . . 

CONCLUSION. 

Let us enter upon the discharge of our duties fully appreciat- 
ing our relations to the people, and determined to serve them 
faithfully and well. This involves a jealous watch of the public 
funds, and a refusal to sanction their appropriation except for 
public needs. To this end, all unnecessary offices should be 
abolished, and all employment of doubtful benefit discontinued. 
If to this we add the enactment of such wise and well consid- 
ered laws as will meet the varied wants of our fellow-citi- 
zens, and increase their prosperity, we shall merit and receive 
the approval of those whose representatives we are, and, with 
the consciousness of duty well performed, shall leave our im- 
press for good on the legislation of the State. 

G rover Cleveland. 

So soon as he became Governor, Grover Cleve- 
land commenced at once the work of reform, and 
did not confine it to large and important State ques- 
tions, but began at home and in his immediate per- 
sonal surroundings. A numerous body of useless 
men were discharged, and admission to see the 
Governor made free to all. He adopted a regular 
system of work, not only for his employes but also 
for his own office, and no official in his department 



G ROVER CLEVELAND AS GOVERNOR. 



49 



did as much work as the Governor himself. His at- 
tention was directed to the subject of pardons, the 
decision upon which had heretofore been in the 
hands of a pardon clerk, and he at once assumed the 
responsibility of the examination and decision upon 
all pardons himself. He was especially anxious to 
give proper attention to all that related to the amelio- 
ration of the condition of laboring men, and through 
the fearless use of his veto power he prevented the 
enactment into statutes of several measures which 
would have been injurious to the workingmen. 
Under his administration a State Civil Service Re- 
form bill and a bill prohibiting political assessments 
were passed and signed by the Governor. A bureau 
of labor statistics was also established with his 
approval, and with results of great advantage to the 
State. Many attacks v/ere made upon Grover Cleve- 
land having special reference to his views upon the 
labor question, and, when an attempt was made to 
defeat his nomination at a subsequent date, he 
said : — 

To say that I have ever failed to embrace every opportunity 
offered me to elevate the condition and subserve the real inter- 
ests of the workingman, and to protect him in all his rights, is 
false. This, however, is but evidence of the readiness of some 
persons to make careless statements when engaged in a strug- 
gle, and of others to accept such statements as facts instead of 
ascertaining the truth from the record. Understand me ; I do 
not profess to be infallible on this or any other question, but I 
do claim that- no sincere and honest workingman can examine 
my record and find from it anything which tends to show a lack 
of sympathy with and care for the true interests of those who 
labor. I am sometimes afraid that at least a few of those who 
pose as friends of the workingmen do not keep themselves fully 
informed as to what is done for them by way of legislation. As 



5o 



THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET. 



an illustration, I see it stated in the papers, as coming from one 
who professes to be especially the friend of the workingmen, 
and claiming to be a leader among them, that I vetoed a bill 
preventing contract labor by children in the reformatories and 
institutions of the State. In point of fact, this bill was 
promptly signed by me, and no other measure touching this 
question has been presented to me. 

Governor Cleveland's veto of the Elevated Railroad 
five-cent fare bill was occasion of universal clamor, 
simply from the fact of its not being generally 
understood. We give herewith the last clauses of 
his veto message, which cover his most important 
views on the subject : — 

It is manifestly important that invested capital should be 
protected, and that its necessity and usefulness in the develop- 
ment of enterprises valuable to the people should be recog- 
nized by conservative conduct on the part of the State govern- 
ment. 

But we have especially in our keeping the honor and good 
faith of a great State, and we should see to it that no suspicion 
attaches, through any act of ours, to the fair fame of the com- 
monwealth. The State should not only be strictly just, but 
scrupulously fair, and in its relations to the citizens every legal 
and moral obligation should be recognized. This can only be 
done by legislating without vindictiveness or prejudice, and 
with a firm determination to deal justly and fairly with those 
from whom we exact obedience. 

I am not unmindful of the fact that this bill originated in 
response to the demand of a large portion of the people of New 
York for cheaper rates of fare between their places of employ- 
ment and their homes, and I realize fully the desirability of 
securing to them all the privileges possible, but the experience 
of other States teaches that we must keep within the limits of 
law and good faith, lest in the end we bring upon the very 
people whom we seek to benefit and protect a hardship which 
must surely follow when these limits are ignored. 

Grover Cleveland. 



GROVER CLEVELAND AS GOVERNOR. 51 

That we may form some idea of the impression 
made upon thinking men by this message, we give 
herewith a letter from Rev. Dr. Anderson, president 
of Rochester University, and one of our most prom- 
inent educators : — 

Rochester, March 4, 1S83. 
Governor Cleveland : — 

Sir, — I cannot, in justice to my convictions, refrain from 
expressing my gratitude for your veto message, which I have 
just read. I have no personal interest in any of the great cor- 
porations which were directly or indirectly affected by the bill 
from which you have so wisely withheld your approval. But 
the just and statesmanlike position taken in your message seems 
to me a most fitting rebuke to the demagogism which is ready to 
trifle with those sacred rights of property guaranteed by our 
State and national constitutions. In these safeguards of prop- 
erty the poor man has a move vital interest than the capitalist, 
for they make secure the poor man's savings, which constitute 
his only means of support. I have taken occasion to commend 
your message to the careful consideration of my students, as an 
exhibition of the principles which should govern their actions 
should they be called to fill public station in their future lives. 
1 trust you will pardon me for obtruding myself upon your 
attention. As a teacher of young men, 1 feel grateful to any 
public functionary who illustrates in his person the lessons 
which I am so anxious to impress upon their minds. Again I 
thank you for the courageous and worthy action which you 
have adopted to secure sound government for our great State. 

Yours very respectfully, 

Martin B. Anderson. 

The second year of Grover Cleveland's adminis- 
tration as Governor of the Empire State commenced 
under the best auspices ; he had secured the approval 
and good-will of five millions of people, who were 
perfectly satisfied with his control of the govern- 
ment. His second inaup-ural messap-e dwelt on 
many local subjects of great interest, but space will 



$2 THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET. 

not permit us to present but such as seem worthy of 
special attention at the present time. 

The Governor said as follows in reference to 

CIVIL SERVICE REFORM. 

During the year the provisions of the act passed by the last 
Legislature to regukite and improve the civil service of the 
State have been put into operation. Fortunately a commission 
was secured whose members were in hearty sympathy with the 
principles of the law, and who possessed much practical knowl- 
edge of the needs of the public service. The commission itself 
was also fortunate in obtaining the services of Silas W. Burt as 
chief examiner, whose experience in public affairs and familiar- 
ity with the best methods of regulating the civil service enabled 
him to render invaluable assistance to the commission and the 
State. The preliminary classification and the framing of rules, 
contemplated by the act governing the appointments to place, 
having been completed and received my approval, the system 
will become operative in respect to all State officers and in all 
State institutions on the fourth day of the present month. This 
work, owing to the diversity of the State service, and the num- 
ber and variety of positions affected by the law, has been a task 
attended with many difficulties. Although some slight revision 
may be necessary, on the whole I am confident the scheme will 
be found practical and effective, without being too rigorous or 
burdensome. 

In addition the commission has co-operated with the mayors 
of cities who, under the law, have exclusive control of the muni- 
cipal service, and in several cities, notably New York and 
Brooklyn, a thorough system of civil service has been prepared 
and promulgated, as nearly in harmony with the State system 
as the charters and statutes relating to municipal matters will 
permit. 

New York, then, leads in the inauguration of a comprehensive 
State system of civil service. The principle of selecting the 
subordinate employe's of the State on the ground of capacity and 
fitness, ascertained according to fixed and impartial rules, with- 
out regard to political predilections, and with reasonable assur- 
ance of retention and promotion in case of meritorious service, 
is now the established policy of the State. The children of our 



G ROVER CLEVELAND AS GOVERNOR. 



53 



citizens are educated and trained in schools maintained at com- 
mon expense, and the people as a whole have a right to demand 
the selection for the public service of those whose natural apti- 
tudes have been improved by the educational facilities furnished 
by the State. The application to the public service of the same 
rule which prevails in ordinary business, of employing those 
whose knowledge and training best fit them for the duties at 
hand, without regard to other considerations, must elevate and 
improve the civil service and eradicate from it many evils from 
which it has long suffered. Not the least gratifying of the re- 
sults which this system promises to accomplish is relief to public 
men from the annoyance of importunity in the strife for appoint- 
ments to subordinate places. 

RESULTS OF THE FIRST YEAR. 

The people of the State are to be congratulated upon the 
progress made during the last year in the direction of wholesome 
legislation. 

The most practical and thorough civil service reform has 
gained a place in the policy of the State. 

Political assessments upon employes in the public depart- 
ments have been prohibited. 

The rights of all citizens at primary elections have been pro- 
tected by law. 

A bureau has been established to collect information and 
statistics touching the relations between labor and capital. 

The sale of forest land at the source of our important streams 
has been prohibited, thereby checking threatened disaster to 
the commerce on our waterways. 

Debts and obligations for the payment of money, owned 
though not actually held within the State, have been made sub- 
ject to taxation, thus preventing an unfair evasion of liability 
for the support of the government. 

Business principles have been introduced in the construction 
and care of the new capitol and other public buildings, and 
waste and extravagance thereby prevented. 

A law has been passed for the better administration of the 
Emigration Bureau and the prevention of its abuses. 

The people have been protected by placing cooperative in- 
surance companies under the control and supervision of the 
Insurance Department. 



54 



THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET. 



The fees of receivers have been reduced and regulated in the 
interests of the creditors of insolvent companies. 

A court of claims has been established where the demands 
of citizens against the State may be properly determined. 

These legislative accomplishments, and others of less impor- 
tance and prominence, may well be cited in proof of the fact 
that the substantial interests of the people of the State have not 
been neglected. 

Let us anticipate a time when care for the people's needs as 
they actually arise, and the application of remedies, as wrongs 
appear, shall lead in the conduct of national affairs; and let us 
undertake the business of legislation with the full determina- 
tion that these principles shall guide us in the performance of 
our duties as guardians of the interests of the State. 

Grover Cleveland. 

The vetoes of Governor Cleveland during the ses- 
sion of the Legislature of 1884 attracted much carp- 
ing opposition, but, as usual, when the good common- 
sense of the people fairly considered his views, he 
was almost unanimously supported, and it must be 
admitted that as Governor he consistently carried 
out the same ideas of reform and correction of finan- 
cial abuses that he did in his capacity of mayor of 
Buffalo. 



CHAPTER IV. 

GROVER CLEVELAND AS PRESIDENT. 

As a natural result, the admirable administration 
of Grover Cleveland as Governor of the Empire 
State led to the early consideration of his name in 
connection with the Democratic nomination for the 
Presidency in 1884. He had made a good mayor, 
he had made a good Governor, he should make a 
good President. So soon as Governor Tilden de- 
clined the nomination, prominent Democrats at once 
came out in favor of Cleveland, among them ex- 
Governor Horatio Seymour and ex-Senator Francis 
Kernan. At the Democratic State Convention held 
at Saratoga, the delegation to the national convention 
were instructed to give their unanimous vote for 
Grover. Cleveland. 

The Democratic National Convention met at Chi- 
cago on July 8, 1884, Colonel William F. Vilas, of 
Wisconsin, being appointed permanent chairman. 
The name of Grover Cleveland was presented by 
Mr. Daniel S. Lockwood, of Buffalo, representing 
the delegation from the State of New York. The 
remarks of Mr. Lockwood, made four years since, are 
so patent to the present occasion that they are given 
here in full : — 

55 



56 



THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET. 



Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen of the Convention : It 
is with no ordinary feeling of responsibility that I appear before 
this convention, as representative of the Democracy of the 
State of New York, for the purpose of placing in nomination a 
gentleman from the State of New York, as a candidate for the 
Presidency of the United States. This responsibility is made 
greater when I remember that the richest pages of American 
history have been made up from the records of Democratic ad- 
ministration. This responsibility is made still greater when I 
remember that the only blot in the political history done at 
Washington, an outrage upon the rights of the American people, 
was in 1876, and that that outrage and that injury to justice is 
still unavenged, and this responsibility is not lessened when I 
recall the fact that the gentleman whose name I shall present 
to you has been my political associate from my youth. Side by 
side have we marched to the tune of Democratic music; side 
by side we studied the principles of Jefferson and Jackson, and 
we love the faith in which we believe ; and during all this time 
he has occupied a position comparatively as a private citizen, 
yet always true and always faithful to Democratic principle. No 
man has greater respect or admiration for the honored names 
which have been presented to this convention than myself; but, 
gentlemen, the world is moving, and moving rapidly. 

From the North to the South, new men — men who have acted 
but little in politics — are coming to the front, and to-day there 
are hundreds and thousands of young men in this country — ■ 
men who are to cast their first vote, who are independent in 
politics — and they are looking to this convention, praying 
silently that there shall be no mistake made here. They want 
to drive the Republican party from power ; they want to cast 
their vote for a Democrat in whom they believe. These people 
know from the record of the gentleman whose name I shall 
present, that Democracy with him means honest government, 
pure government, and protection of the rights of the people of 
every class and every condition. A little more than three years 
ago, I had the honor, at the city of Buffalo, to present the name 
of this same gentleman for the .office of mayor of that city. It 
was presented then for the same reason, for the same causes 
that we present it now ; it was because the government of that 
city had become corrupt and had become debauched, and poli- 
tical integrity sat not in high places. The people looked for a 



G ROVER CLEVELAND AS PRESIDENT. 



57 



man who would represent the contrary, and without any hesita- 
tion they named Grover Cleveland as the man. The result of 
that election, and his holding that office, was that in less than 
nine months the State of New York found herself in a position 
to want just such a candidate and for such a purpose, and when, 
at the convention in 1SS2, his name was placed in nomination 
for the office of Governor of the State of New York, the same 
people, the same class of people, knew that that meant honest 
government, it meant pure government, it meant Democratic 
government, and it was ratified by the people. And, gentlemen, 
now, after eighteen months' service there, the Democracy of the 
State of New York come to you and ask you to give to the 
country, to give the independent and Democratic voters of the 
country, the new blood of the country, and present the name of 
Grover Cleveland as its standard-bearer for the next four years. 
I shall indulge in no eulogy of Mr. Cleveland. I shall not 
attempt any further description of his political career. It is 
known. His Democracy is known. His statesmanship is 
known throughout the length and breadth of this land. And all 
I ask of this convention is to let no passion, no prejudice, influ- 
ence its duty which it owes to the people of this country. Be 
not deceived. Grover Cleveland can give the Democratic party 
the thirty-six electoral votes of the State of New York on elec- 
tion day. He can, by his purity of character, by his purity of 
administration, by his fearless and undaunted courage to do 
right, bring to you more votes than anybody else. Gentlemen 
of the convention, but one word more. Mr. Cleveland's candi- 
dacy before this convention is offered upon the ground of his 
honor, his integrity, his wisdom, and his Democracy. Upon 
that ground we ask it, believing that if ratified by this conven- 
tion he can be elected and take his seat at Washington as a 
Democratic President of the United States. 



Upon the second ballot taken in the convention 
the name of Grover Cleveland was adopted as 
Democratic candidate for President by a vote which 
was at once made unanimous, the formal announce- 
ment of the vote being- : — 



58 



THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET. 



Cleveland 683 

Bayard 8i£ 

Hendricks 45-j 

Thurman 4 

Randall 4 

McDonald 2 

In detail the States voted as follows : — 



STATES. 



U 





w 


c 


M 


n 


<_) 






c 


-a 


3 




43 




H 


w 



Alabama . . 
Arkansas . . 
California . 
Colorado . . 
Connecticut 
Delaware . . 
Florida . . . 
Georgia . 
Illinois . . . 
Indiana . . . 
Iowa .... 
Kansas . . . 
Kentucky . . 
Louisiana . . 
Maine 

Maryland . . 
Massachusetts . 
Michigan 
Minnesota . 
Mississippi . 
Missouri. . -. 
Nebraska . 
Nevada . . . 
New Hampshire 
New Jersey . 
New York . . 



20 

14 

16 

6 

12 

6 

8 

24 
44 
3° 
26 
18 
26 
16 
12 
16 
28 
26 

14 
18 

32 
10 
6 
8 
18 
72 



5 

14 
16 

6 
12 



22 
43 
30 
26 

17 

4 

15 

12 
l6 

8 

23 

14 

2 

32 
9 

8 

5 
72 



14 



1 
21 



71 



14 



G ROVER CLEVELAND AS PRESIDENT. 



59 



STATES. 


cd 

o 

o 

Q 


V 
4) 

U 


t5 

5 

Q 

u 






in 


rt 

C 


North Carolina .... 


22 


22 












Ohio 


4 6 


46 














6 


6 












Pennsylvania 


60 


42 


. . 


3 


1 


1 1 


4 




8 


7 


. . 


2 








South Carolina .... 


18 


10 




8 










24 


24 














26 


26 














8 


8 














24 


23 








I 


. , 




12 


10 




2 










22 


22 














2 


2 














2 


2 












Idaho 


2 


2 














2 


2 














2 


2 












Utah 


2 


2 














2 


2 














2 


2 












District of Columbia . . 


2 


2 








45i 






820 


683 


2 


8ii 


4 


4 



Governor Cleveland was quietly at work at his 
regular executive routine of business when the 
news arrived of his nomination, and he was at once 
obliged to receive the congratulations of his friends 
and fellow-countrymen. In reply to an address by 
Mr. James Tracey, President of the Young Men's 
Club, Governor Cleveland said : — 

Fellow-Citizens, — I cannot but be gratified with this 
kindly greeting. I find that I am fast reaching the point 



6 THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET. 

where I shall count the people of Albany not merely as fellow- 
citizens, but as townsmen and neighbors. 

On this occasion I am, of course, aware that you pay no 
compliment to a citizen, and present no personal tribute, but 
that you have come to demonstrate your loyalty and devotion 
to a cause in which you are heartily enlisted. 

The American people are about to exercise, in its highest 
sense, their power and right of sovereignty. They are to call 
in review before them their public servants and the representa- 
tives of political parties, and demand of them an account of 
their stewardship. 

Parties may be so long in power, and may become so arro- 
gant and careless of the interests of the people, as to grow 
heedless of their responsibility to their masters. But the time 
comes, as certainly as death, when the people weigh them in 
the balance. 

The issues to be adjudicated by the nation's great assize are 
made up and are about to be submitted. 

We believe that the people are not receiving, at the hands 
of the party which for nearly twenty-four years has directed the 
affairs of the nation, the full benefits to which they are entitled, 
of a pure, just, and economical rule; and we believe that the 
ascendency of genuine Democratic principles will insure a 
better government, and greater happiness and prosperity to all 
the people. 

To reach the sober thought of the nation, and to dislodge 
an enemy intrenched behind spoils and patronage, involve a 
struggle which if we underestimate we invite defeat. I am pro- 
foundly impressed with the responsibility of the part assigned 
to me in this contest. My heart, P know, is in the cause, and I 
pledge you that no effort of mine shall be wanting to secure the 
victory which I believe to be within the achievement of the 
Democratic hosts. 

Let us, then, enter upon the campaign now fairly opened, 
each one appreciating well the part he has to perform, ready, 
with solid front, to do battle for better government, confidently, 
courageously, always honorably, and with a firm reliance upon 
the intelligence and patriotism of the American people. 

At the conclusion of his remarks the audience 
cheered again and again tumultuously as the Gov- 



GROVE R CLEVELAND AS PRESIDENT. (5 r 

ernor reentered the house. The doors were thrown 
open, and, taking his place in the broad hallway, on 
the spot where eight years before Governor Tilden 
had received the congratulations of the people on 
his nomination, Governor Cleveland shook hands 
with the thousands who for two hours poured 
steadily in one door and out the other. 

Governor Cleveland was officially notified of his 
nomination to the high office of President of the 
United States in the afternoon of July 29, 1884. 
The ceremony took place in the Governor's mansion. 
Colonel Vilas, president of the notification committee 
delivered the following address : — 

Grover Cleveland, Governor of the State of New 
York, — These gentlemen, my associates here present, whose 
voice T am honored with authority to utter, are a committee ap- 
pointed by the National Democratic Convention which recently 
assembled in Chicago, and charged with the grateful duty of 
acquainting you, officially and in that solemn and ceremonious 
manner which the dignity and importance of the communication 
demand, with the interesting result of its deliberations, already 
known to you through the ordinary channels of news. 

Sir, the august body, convened by direct delegation from 
the Democratic people of the several States and Territories of 
the republic, and deliberating under the witness of the greatest 
assembly of freemen ever gathered to such a conference, in 
forethought of the election which the Constitution imposes upon 
them to make during the current year, have nominated you to 
the people of these United States to be their President for the 
next ensuing term of that great office, and, with grave consider- 
ation of its exalted responsibilities, have confidently invoked 
their suffrages to invest you with its functions. Through this 
committee the convention's high requirement is delivered that 
you accept that candidacy. 

This choice carries with it profound personal respect and 
admiration ; but it has been in no manner the fruit of these 
sentiments. The national Democracy seek a President not in 



62 THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET. 

compliment for what the man is, or reward for what he has done, 
but in a just expectation of what he will accomplish as the true 
servant of a free people, fit for their lofty trust. Always of mo- 
mentous consequence, they conceive the public exigency to be 
now of transcendent importance, that a laborious reform in ad- 
ministration, as well as legislation, is imperatively necessary to 
the prosperity and honor of the republic, and a competent 
chief magistrate must be of unusual temper and power. They 
have observed with attention your execution of the public trusts 
you have held, especially of that with which you are now so 
honorably invested. 

They place their reliance for the usefulness of the services 
they expect to exact for the benefit of the nation upon the evi- 
dence derived from the services you have performed for the 
State of New York. They invite the electors to such proofs of 
character and competence to justify their confidence that in the 
nation, as heretofore in the State, the public business will be ad- 
ministered with commensurate intelligence and ability, with 
single-hearted honesty and fidelity, and with a resolute and 
daring fearlessness which no faction, no combination, no power 
of wealth, no mistaken clamor, can dismay or qualify. 

In the spirit of the wisdom and invoking the benediction of 
the Divine Teacher of men, we challenge from the sovereignty 
of this nation his words in commendation and ratification of 
our choice, " Well done, thou good and faithful servant ; thou 
hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over 
many things." In further fulfilment of our duty, the secretary 
Will now present the written communication signed by the com- 
mittee. 



Governor Cleveland remained calm throughout 
these remarks and looked the speaker squarely in 
the face. Mr. Bell, the secretary of the committee, 
then read the letter of notification, afterward handing 
the manuscript, inclosed in its leather wallet, to the 
Governor. 

Following is the address of the committee of noti- 
fication : — 



G ROVER CLEVELAND AS PRESIDENT. 



63 



New York City, July 28, 1884. 
To the Hon. Grover Cleveland, of New York : — . 

Sir, — In accordance with a custom befitting the nature of 
the communication, the undersigned, representing the several 
States and Territories of the Union, were appointed a commit- 
tee by the National Democratic Convention, which assembled 
at Chicago, on the eighth day of the current month, to perform 
the pleasing office which by this means we have the honor to exe- 
cute, of informing you of your nomination as the candidate of 
the Democratic party in the ensuing election for the office of 
President of the United States. A declaration of the prin- 
ciples upon which the Democracy go before the people with 
the hope of establishing and maintaining them in the gov- 
ernment was made by the convention, and an engrossed copy 
thereof is submitted in connection with this communication for 
your consideration. We trust the approval of your judgment 
will follow an examination of this expression of opinion and 
policy, and upon the political controversy now made up we in- 
vite your acceptance of the exalted leadership to which you have 
been chosen. 

The election of a President is an event of the utmost im- 
portance to the people of America. Prosperity, growth, happi- 
ness, peace, and liberty even may depend upon its wise order- 
ing. Your unanimous nomination is proof that the Democracy 
believe your election will most contribute to secure these great 
objects. We assure you that in the anxious responsibilities you 
must assume as a candidate you will have the steadfast, cordial 
support of the friends of the cause you will represent, and, in the 
execution of the duties of the high office which we confidently 
expect from the wisdom of the nation to be conferred upon you, 
you may securely rely for approving aid upon the patriotism, 
honor, and intelligence of this free people. We have the honor 
to be, with great respect, 

W. F. Vilas (Wisconsin), President. 
Nicholas N. Bell (Missouri), Secretary. 
D. P. Bestor, Ala., D. E. McCarthy, Nev., 

Fred. W. Fokdyce, Ark., J. F. Cloutman, N. H., 

Niles Seari.es, Cal., John P. STOCKTON, N. J., 

M. M. S. Waller, Col., John C. Jacobs, X. V., 

Theo. M. Waller, Conn., G. H. OURY, Arizona, 

George H. Bates, Del., Ransford Smith, Utah, 

Atilla Cox, Ky., John M. SELCOTT, Idaho, 

James Jeffries, La., W. D. Chipley, Fla., 



6 4 



THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET. 



C. H. Osgood, Me., 
George Wells, Md„ 
J. E. Abbott, Mass., 

D. J. Campan, Mich., 
Thos. E. Heenan, Minn., 
Charles E. Hooker, Miss., 
David R. Francis, Mo., 
Patrick Fahy, Neb., 
Wilson G. Lamb, N. C., 
Joseph H. Earle, S. C., 
Wm. A. Quarles, Tenn., 
George L. Spear, Vt., 
Frank Hereford, W. Va., 
J. T. Hauser, Montana, 

M. S. McCormick, D. T., 



M. P. Reese, Ga., 
A. E. Stevenson, 111., 
E. D. Bannister, Ind., 
L. G. Kinne, Iowa, 

C. C. Burnes, Kan., 
Wm. E. Haynes, Ohio, 
S. L. McArthur, Ore., 
James P. Barr, Pa., 
David S. Baker, Jr., R. I., 
E. D. Wright, Dist. of Col., 
Joseph E. Dwyer, Texas, 
Robert Beverly, Va., 

W. A. Anderson, Wis., 
W. B. Childers, N. Mex., 

D. B. Dutro, W. T. 



Governor Cleveland received the proffered wallet 
gracefully and replied quietly, without gesture and 
without the use of manuscript : — 

Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen of the Committee, — 
Your formal announcement does not, of course, convey to me 
the first information of the result of the convention lately held 
by the Democracy of the nation, and yet when, as I listen to 
your message, I see about me representatives from all parts of 
the land of the great party which, claiming to be the party of 
the people, asks them to intrust to it the administration of their 
government ; and when I consider, under the influence of the 
stern reality which the present surroundings create, that I have 
been chosen to represent the plans, purposes, and the policy of 
the Democratic party, I am profoundly impressed by the 
solemnity of the occasion and by the responsibility of my posi- 
tion. 

Though I gratefully appreciate it, I do not at this moment 
congratulate myself upon the distinguished honor which has been 
conferred upon me, because my mind is full of an anxious desire 
to perform well the part which has been assigned to me. Nor 
do I at this moment forget that the rights and interests of more 
than fifty millions of my fellow-citizens are involved in our 
efforts to gain Democratic supremacy. This reflection pre- 
sents to my mind the consideration which more than all others 
gives to the action of my party in convention assembled its 
most sober and serious aspect. The party and its representa- 
tives which ask to be intrusted at the hands of the people with 



GROVE R CLEVELAND AS PRESLDENT. $$ 

the keeping of all that concerns their welfare and their safety 
should only ask it with the full appreciation of the sacredness 
of the trust and with a firm resolve to administer it faithfully 
and well. I am a Democrat because I believe that this truth 
lies at the foundation of true democracy. I have kept the faith 
because I believe, if rightly and fairly administered and applied, 
Democratic doctrines and measures will insure the happiness, 
contentment, and prosperity of the people. 

If, in the contest upon which we now enter, we steadfastly 
hold to the underlying principles of our party creed, and at all 
times keep in view the people's good, we shall be strong, be- 
cause we are true to ourselves and because the plain and inde- 
pendent voters of the land will seek by their suffrages to com- 
pass their release from party tyranny where there should be 
submission to the popular will, and their protection from party 
corruption where there should be devotion to the people's inter- 
ests. These thoughts lend a consecration to our cause, and we 
go forth not merely to gain a partisan advantage, but pledged 
to give to those who trust us the utmost benefits cf a pure and 
honest administration of national affairs. No higher purpose or 
motive can stimulate us to supreme effort or urge us to contin- 
uous and earnest labor and effective party organization. Let 
us not fail in this, and we may confidently hope to reap the full 
reward of patriotic services well performed. 

I have thus called to mind some simple truths, and, trite 
though they are, it seems to me we do well to dwell upon them 
at this time. I shall soon, I hope, signify in the usual formal 
manner my acceptance of the nomination which has been ten- 
dered me. In the meantime I gladly greet you all as co-workers 
in a noble cause. 

The reply of Grover Cleveland to the letter from 
the committee announcing- his nomination is a sim- 
pie restatement of his views as expressed heretofore, 
with the results of his added experience as mayor 
and Governor. His views as regards the executive 
management of the administration of a great nation 
have been faithfully carried out during the past three 
years, arid the reader who follows carefully all of its 



66 THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET. 

utterances will be surprised at their almost exact 
confirmation by the acts of the President. 

LETTER OF ACCEPTANCE. 

Albany, N. Y., August 18, 1884. 

Gentlemen, — I have received your communication, dated 
July 28, 1884, informing me of my nomination to the office of 
President of the United States, by the National Democratic 
Convention lately assembled at Chicago. 

I accept the nomination with a grateful appreciation of the 
supreme honor conferred, and a solemn sense of the responsi- 
bility which, in its acceptance, I assume. 

I have carefully considered the platform adopted by the con- 
vention, and cordially approve the same. So plain a statement 
of Democratic faith and the principles upon which that party 
appeals to the suffrages of the people needs no supplement or 
explanation. 

It should be remembered that the office of President is essen- 
tially executive in its nature. The laws enacted by the legisla- 
tive branch of the government the chief executive is bound 
faithfully to enforce. And when the wisdom of the political 
party which selects one of its members as a nominee for that 
office has outlined its policy and declared its principles, it 
seems to me that nothing in the character of the office or the 
necessities of the case requires more from the candidate accept- 
ing such nomination than the suggestion of certain well known 
truths, so absolutely vital to the safety and welfare of the nation 
that they cannot be too often recalled or too seriously enforced. 

GOVERNMENT BY THE PEOPLE. 

We proudly call ours a government by the people. It is not 
such when a class is tolerated which arrogates to itself the 
management of public affairs, seeking to control the people 
instead of representing them. 

* Parties are the necessary outgrowth of our institutions, but a 
government is not by the people when one party fastens its con- 
trol upon the country and perpetuates its power by cajoling and 
betraying the people instead of serving them. 

A government is not by the people when a result which 



G ROVER CLEVELAND AS PRESIDENT. 



67 



should represent the intelligent will of free and thinking men is 
or can be determined by the shameless corruption of their suf- 
frages. 

When an election to office shall be the selection by the voters 
of one of their number, to assume for a time a public trust in- 
stead of his dedication to the profession of politics; when the 
holders of the ballot, quickened by a sense of duty, shall avenge 
truth betrayed and pledges broken, and when the suffrage shall 
be altogether free and uncorrupted, the full realization of a gov- 
ernment bv the people will be at hand. And of the means to 
this end nor one would, in my judgment, be more effective than 
an amendment to the constitution disqualifying the President 
from reelection. When we consider the patronage of this great 
office, the allurements of power, the temptation to retain public 
place once gained, and, more than all, the availability a party 
finds in an incumbent whom a horde of office-holders, with a 
zeal born of benefits received and fostered by the hope of favors 
yet to come, stand ready to aid with money and trained political 
service, we recognize in the eligibility of the President for re- 
election a most serious danger to that calm, deliberate, and in- 
telligent political action which must characterize a government 
by the people. 

LABOR MUST BE PROTECTED. 

A true American sentiment recognizes the dignity of labor 
and the fact that honor lies in honest toil. Contented labor is 
an element of national prosperity. Ability to work constitutes 
the capital and the wage of labor, the income of a vast number 
of our population, and this interest should be jealously pro- 
tected. Our workingmen are not asking unreasonable indul- 
gence, but as intelligent and manly citizens they seek the same 
consideration which those demand who have other interests at 
stake. They should receive their full share of the care and 
attention of those who make and execute the laws, to the end 
that .the wants and needs of the employers and the employed 
shall alike be subserved, and the prosperity of the country, the 
common heritage of both, be advanced. As related to this sub- 
ject, while we should not discourage the immigration of those 
who come to acknowledge allegiance to our government and add 
to our citizen population, yet, as a means of protection to our 



63 THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET. 

workingmen, a different rule should prevail concerning those 
who, if they come or are brought to our land, do not intend to 
become Americans, but will injuriously compete with those 
justly entitled to our field of labor. 

In a letter accepting the nomination to the office of Governor, 
nearly two years ago, I made the following statement, to which 
I have steadily adhered : — 

"The laboring classes constitute the main part of our popu- 
lation. They should be protected in their efforts peaceably to 
assert their rights when endangered by aggregated capital, and 
all statutes on this subject should recognize the care (tf the State 
for honest toil, and be framed with a view of improving the con- 
dition of the workingman." 

A proper regard for the welfare of the workingman being in- 
separably connected with the integrity of our institutions, none 
of our citizens are more interested than they in guarding against 
any corrupting influences which seek to pervert the beneficent 
purposes of our government, and none should be more watchful 
of the artful machinations of those who allure them to self- 
inflicted injury. 

CONSERVATION OF INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS. 

In a free country the curtailment of the absolute rights of 
the individual should only be such as is essential to the peace 
and good order of the community. The limit between the 
proper subjects of governmental control and those which can 
be more fittingly left to the moral sense and self-imposed re- 
straint of the citizen should be carefully kept in view. Thus, 
laws unnecessarily interfering with the habits and customs of 
any of our people, which are not offensive to the moral senti- 
ments of the civilized world, and which are consistent with 
good citizenship and the public welfare, are unwise and vexa- 
tious. 

The commerce of a nation, to a great extent, determines its 
supremacy. Cheap and easy transportation should therefore be 
liberally fostered. Within the limits of the constitution, the 
general government should so improve and protect its natural 
waterways as will enable the producers of the country to reach 
a profitable market. 



GROVER CLEVELAND AS PRESIDENT. fig 

THE PUBLIC SERVICE. 

The people pay the wages of the public employe's, and they 
are entitled to the fair and honest work which the money thus 
paid should command. It is the duty of those intrusted with 
the management of their affairs to see that such public service 
is forthcoming. The selection and retention of subordinates in 
government employment should depend upon their ascertained 
fitness and the value of their work, and they should be neither 
expected nor allowed to do questionable party service. The in- 
terests of the people will be better protected ; the estimate of 
public labor and duty will be immensely im ;roved ; public em- 
ployment will be open to all who can demonstrate their fitness 
to enter it ; the unseemly scramble for place under the govern- 
ment, with the consequent importunity which embitters official 
life, will cease ; and the public departments will not be tilled 
with those who conceive it to be their first duty to aid the party 
to which they owe their places, instead of rendering patient and 
honest return to the people. 

AN HONEST ADMINISTRATION WANTED. 

I believe that the public temper is such that the voters of the 
land are prepared to support the party which gives the best 
promise of administering the government in the honest, simple, 
and plain manner which is consistent with its character and 
purposes. They have learned that mystery and concealment in 
the management of their affairs cover tricks and betrayal. The 
statesmanship they require consists in honesty and frugality, a 
prompt response to the needs of the people as they arise, and 
the vigilant protection of all their varied interests. 

If I should be called to the chief magistracy of the nation 
by the suffrages of my fellow citizens, I will assume the duties 
of that high office with a solemn determination to dedicate 
every effort to the country's good, and with an humble reliance 
upon the favor and support of the Supreme Being, who, I be- 
lieve, will always bless honest human endeavor in the conscien- 
tious discharge of public duly. 

Grover Cleveland 

To Colonel William F. Vilas, Chairman, and D. P. Best >k, and others, 
Members of the Notification Committee of the Democratic National 
Convention. 



7° 



THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET. 



The nomination of Grover Cleveland was accepted 
by the press of all parties as the best thing for the 
nation's good, and Democrat, Republican, and Inde- 
pendent joined hands in praise of the man so unex- 
pectedly brought forward. Geo. Wm. Curtis, in 
Harpers Weekly, refused to countenance the Re- 
publican ticket, and published the following leading 
editorial : — 

The nomination of Grover Cleveland defines sharply the 
actual issue of the presidential election of this year. He is a 
man whose absolute official integrity has never been questioned, 
who has no laborious and doubtful explanations to undertake, 
and who is universally known as the Governor of New York, 
elected by an unprecedented majority which was not partisan, 
and represented both the votes and the consent of an enormous 
body of Republicans, and who, as the chief executive of the 
State, has steadily withstood the blandishments and the threats 
of the worst elements of his party, and has justly earned the 
reputation of a courageous, independent, and efficient friend and 
promoter of administrative reform. His name has become that 
of the especial representative among our public men of the 
integrity, purity, and economy of administration which are the 
objects of the most intelligent and patriotic citizens. The 
bitter and furious hostility of Tammany Hall and of General 
Butler to Governor Cleveland is his passport to the confidence 
of good men, and the general conviction that Tammany will do 
all that it can to defeat him will be an additional incentive to 
the voters who cannot support Mr. Blaine, and who are unwill- 
ing not to vote at all, to secure the election of" a candidate whom 
the political rings and the party traders instinctively hate and 
unitedly oppose. 

So firm and " clean " and independent in his high office has 
Governor Cleveland shown himself to be that he is denounced 
as not being a Democrat by his Democratic opponents. This 
denunciation springs from the fact that he has not hesitated to 
prefer the public welfare to the mere interest of his party. Last 
autumn, when the Democratic district attorney of Queen's 
County was charged with misconduct, the Governor heard the 



GROVER CLEVELAND AS PRESIDENT. 



71 



accusation and the defence, and decided that it was his duty to 
remove the officer. He was asked by his party friends to defer 
the removal until after the election, as otherwise the party 
would lose the district by the opposition of the attorney's 
friends. The Governor understood his duty, and removed the 
officer some days before the election, and the party did lose the 
district. This kind of courage and devotion to public duty in 
the teeth of the most virulent opposition of traders of his own 
party is unusual in any public man, and it shows precisely the 
executive quality which is demanded at a time when every form 
of speculation and fraud presses upon the public treasury under 
the specious plea of party advantage. 

The argument that in an election it is not a man but a party 
that is supported, and that the Democratic party is less to be 
trusted than the Republican, is futile at a time when the Repub- 
lican party has nominated a candidate whom a great body of 
the most conscientious Republicans cannot support, and the 
Democratic party has nominated a candidate whom a great 
body of the most venal Democrats practically bolt. Distrust of 
the Democratic party springs from the conduct of the very 
Democrats who madly oppose Governor Cleveland because they 
know that they cannot use him. The mere party argument is 
vain also because no honorable man will be whipped in to vote 
for a candidate whom he believes to be personally disqualified 
for the presidency on the ground that a party ought to be sus- 
tained. No honest Republican would sustain his party for such 
a reason, and the honest Republicans who propose to vote for 
Mr. Blaine will do so because they do not believe, as the pro- 
testing Republicans do believe, that he made his official action 
subserve a personal advantage. Nothing is more hopeless than 
an attempt to persuade such Republicans to sustain their party 
by voting for an unworthy candidate. Should they help to 
reward such a candidate by conferring upon him the highest 
official honor in the world, they could not reasonably expect the 
nomination of a worthier candidate at the next election, and 
they could not consistently oppose the election of any candidate 
whom their party might select. The time to defeat unfit nom- 
inations is when they are made, not next time. The nomina- 
tion of Governor Cleveland is due not so much to the prefer- 
ence of his party as to the general demand of the country for 
a candidacy which stands for precisely the qualities and services 
which are associated with his name. 



72 



THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET. 



The New York Times, formerly a strong Repub- 
lican organ, appeared the next day after the nomi- 
nation with this argument : — 

With Governor Cleveland as its candidate the Democratic 
party appeals with unmistakable directness to the moral sense 
of the people of the United States. Shall the next President be 
a man who has weakly yielded to temptation or a man who has 
unswervingly adhered to the right against powerful enticements 
to do wrong ? A man who begs pecuniary rewards of those his 
official action has enriched, or one who defies corrupt dictation 
and seeks only by just courses to deserve the approval of right- 
thinking men ? A candidate attacked, impeached, tainted, and 
besmirched all over, or a candidate beyond reproach ? A Gra- 
ver Cleveland, whom honest men respect, or a James G. Blaine, 
whom rogues love ? 

This is the supreme issue. It is this which the voters of the 
republic are to decide. It is not the issue of protection ; free 
trade has nothing to do with it ; there is no admixture of foreign 
policy or the want of foreign policy ; insincere professions can- 
not put it aside ; the glare of a boasted torchlight brilliancy will 
not outshine it. The sober sense of an intelligent electorate, 
the honest convictions and the patriotism of ten millions of 
voters are appealed to, and they will settle this question conclu- 
sively and for the right. 

It is not only in what he clearly represents, but in what he 
distinctly opposes, that Graver Cleveland is strong before the 
American people. His career has made him the exponent of 
clean and honest politics. In the administration of public 
trusts he has shown that he is superior to partisan bias, indiffer- 
ent to such party interests as are in conflict with official probity 
and the public welfare. He has been severely tried in the im- 
portant and responsible post he now occupies. He has resisted 
the importunities of designing politicians, he has defeated the 
purposes of selfish schemers. All those members of his own 
party who are not absorbed in private aims which are in con- 
flict with the public good are outspoken in his praise ; and he 
has won the good opinion of all Republicans who are not so far 
gone in partisanship as to have lost the power to commend up- 
right conduct in a political adversary. 



G ROVER CLEVELAND AS PRESIDENT. 



73 



Favored as he is by the right-thinking elements of both the 
Democratic and Republican parties, it is a noteworthy and 
potent advantage to Grover Cleveland as a candidate that he 
has incurred the bitter hostility of the worthless, disreputable, 
and dangerous members of his own party. Tammany hates 
him. butler sees no good in him. Could a candidate find 
stronger recommendation than this in the opinion of voters 
whose political action is shaped solely by considerations of 
public welfare ? The official acts which have won for Governor 
Cleveland the intense hostility of Tammany are the very acts 
which have most strongly commended him to the support of in- 
dependent Republicans. The favor of these two classes, of a 
wholly corrupt and selfish guerilla contingent within the Demo- 
cratic party, and of men with whom . plain common sense and 
the most ordinary form of political honesty are controlling 
influences, no one man, be he ever so skilful in the art of bal- 
ancing, can hope or wish to possess. Grover Cleveland had 
not been one month in office as Governor of the State of New 
York before he had decided in his own mind and had made 
plain to all observers that his official action was to be guided 
solely by his own intelligent judgment of what the public inter- 
est demanded. And that is, above all, the safe and the saving 
policy for a President of the United States. 

No Democrat with whom patriotism is not subordinated to 
private grudges will withhold his vote from Grover Cleveland. 
Of Republicans those who are entirely satisfied that Blaine and 
Logan faithfully represent the principles upon which the party 
that preserved the Union was founded will doubtless vote 
against him. Those of the Republican faith who are repelled 
by the most unwise choice made at Chicago last month will find 
no difficulty in voting for him, since he is one of the best repre- 
sentatives now to be found in public life of those administrative 
principles and reforms to which they are committed. A Demo- 
crat who has made enemies of the disreputable elements of his 
own party is not greatly to be feared by Republicans, even when 
he is a candidate for the presidency. 

The Times will heartily support Governor Cleveland. In 
opposing Mr. Blaine it finds itself already upon impregnable 
ground and in excellent company. It has closely watched the 
career of the candidate nominated at Chicago yesterday, and it 
has entire confidence in his prgbity, in his intelligence, and in 



74 



THE PRESIDENT AND II IS CABINET. 



his administrative ability. He ought to be the next President 
of the United States, and we believe he will be. 

The New York Evening Post said, later on : — 

Of the kind of experience which the present situation in 
national affairs most imperatively calls for, experience in admin- 
istration, Cleveland has more than any one who has entered the 
White House since i860, more than any man whom either party 
has nominated within that period, except Seymour and Tilden 
— more than Lincoln, more than Garfield, more than Arthur. 
He laid at the start that best of all foundations for American 
statesmanship by becoming a good lawyer. He began his 
executive career by being a good county sheriff. He was next 
intrusted with the administration of a great city — as severe a 
test of a man's capacity in dealing with men and affairs as any 
American in our time can undergo. In both offices he gave 
boundless satisfaction to his fellow-citizens of both parties. 
His nomination for the governorship of this State came in due 
course, and at a crisis in State affairs which very closely resem- 
bled that which we are now witnessing in national affairs. His 
election by an unprecedented majority is now an old story. It 
was the beginning of a revolution. It was the first thorough 
fright the tricky and jobbing element in politics ever received 
here. It for the first time in their experience gave reform an 
air of reality. But it might, had Cleveland proved a weak 
or incompetent man, have turned out a very bad blow for pure 
politics. 

Luckily he justified all the expectations and even all the 
hopes of those who voted for him. No friend of good govern- 
ment, who, in disregard of party ties, cast his vote for him, has 
had reason to regret it for one moment. He is in truth a 
Democrat of the better age of the Democratic party, when it 
was a party of simplicity and economy, and might almost have 
put its platform into the golden rule of giving every man his 
due, minding your own business, and asking nothing of gov- 
ernment but light taxes and security in the field and by the 
fireside. No one who has entered the White House for half a 
century, except Lincoln in his second term, has offered such 
solid guarantees that as President he will do his own thinking 
and be his own master in the things which pertain to the 
Presidency. 



GROVER CLEVELAND AS PRESIDENT. 



75 



At a meeting of the "Independents" in New 
York, July 22, 1884, the following remarks were 
made by George William Curtis : — 

Upon the practical questions of tariff and finance, and 
other questions upon which both parties are divided within 
themselves, we also are divided in opinion. We shall vote 
therefore in the choice of representatives and other officers 
according to our individual opinions of their political views and 
their personal character. Divided on other questions, we are 
united in conviction that the fou ntain of office and honor 
should be pure, and that the highest office in the country should 
be filled by a man of absolutely unsuspected integrity. As 
there is no distinctive issue upon public policy presented for 
the consideration of the country, the character of the candi- 
dates becomes of the highest importance with all citizens who 
do not hold that party victory should be secured at any cost. 
While the Republican nomination presents a candidate whom 
we cannot support, the Democratic party presents one whose 
name is the synonym of political courage and honesty and of 
administrative reform. He has discharged every official trust 
with sole regard to the public welfare and with just disregard 
of mere partisan and personal advantage, which, with the 
applause and confidence of both parties, have raised him from 
the chief executive administration of a great city to that of a 
great State. His reserved, intelligent, and sincere support of 
reform in the civil service has firmly established that reform 
in the State and the cities of New York ; and his personal 
convictions, proved by his official acts, more decisive than any 
possible platform declaration, are the guarantee that in its 
spirit and in its letter the reform would be enforced in the 
national administration. His high sense of duty, his absolute 
and unchallenged official integrity, his inflexible courage in 
resisting party pressure and public outcry, his great experience 
in the details of administration, and his commanding executive 
ability and independence, are precisely the qualities which the 
political situation demands in the chief executive officer of 
thg government, to resist corporate monopoly on the one hand 
and demagogue communism on the other, and at home and 
abroad, without menace or fear, to protect every right of 



76 THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET. 

American citizens, and to respect every right of friendly States 
by making political morality and private honesty the basis of 
constitutional administration. He is a Democrat who is hap- 
pily free from all association with the fierce party differences 
of the slavery contest, and whose financial views are in har- 
mony with those of the best men in both parties; and coming 
into public prominence at a time when official purity, courage, 
and character are of chief importance, he presents the qualities 
and the promise which independent voters desire, and which 
a great body of Republicans, believing those qualities to be 
absolutely indispensable in the administration of the govern- 
ment at this time, do not find in the candidate of their own 
party. 

Such independent voters do not propose to ally themselves 
inextricably with any party. Such Republicans do not propose 
to abandon the Republican party nor to merge themselves in 
any other party, but they do propose to aid in defeating a 
Republican nomination which, not for reasons of expediency 
only, but for high moral and patriotic considerations, with a 
due regard for the Republican name and for the American 
character, was unfit to be made. They desire not to evade the 
proper responsibility of American citizens by declining to vote, 
and they desire also to make their votes as effective as possible 
for honest and pure and wise administration. How can such 
voters, who at this election cannot conscientiously support the 
Republican candidate, promote the objects which they desire 
to accomplish more surely than by supporting the candidate 
who represents the qualities, the spirit, and the purpose which 
they all agree in believing to be of controlling importance in 
this election ? No citizen can rightfully avoid the issue or 
refuse to cast his vote. The ballot is a trust. Every voter is 
a trustee for good government, bound to answer to his private 
conscience for his public acts. This conference, therefore, 
assuming that Republicans and independent voters who for any 
reason cannot sustain the Republican nomination desire to 
take the course which, under the necessary conditions and 
constitutional methods of a presidential election, will most 
readily and surely secure the result at which they aim, respect- 
fully recommend to all such citizens to support the electors 
who will vote for Grover Cleveland, in order most effectually 
to enforce their conviction that nothing could more deeply 



G ROVER CLEVELAND AS PRESLDENT. yy 

stain the American name, and prove more disastrous to the 
public welfare, than the deliberate indifference of the people 
of the United States to increasing public corruption, and to 
the want of official integrity in the highest trusts of the 
government. 

For the next three months this country was in the 
throes of a presidential election, James G. Blaine 
being the nominee of the Republican party. The 
result is well known. Grover Cleveland was elected 
President of the United States by a plurality of the 
popular vote of 69,806. He received 219 electoral 
votes, against 182 cast for Mr. Blaine. This result 
was received with much gratification by the entire 
nation, and public opinion, when expressed without 
partisan bias, is a unit as to the solid advantages to 
this country derived from the election of Grover 
Cleveland. One question of importance was soon 
settled by Mr. Cleveland. 

After the election in December, 1884, the Na- 
tional Civil Service Reform League addressed a 
letter to the President, intended to draw from him 
more explicitly a statement of his views in regard to 
civil service reform. To this Mr. Cleveland returned 
a reply, dated December 25, in which he declared 
himself pledged to a "fair and honest enforcement" 
of the civil service law, both because of his " con- 
ception of true Democratic faith and public duty," 
which required " that this and all other statutes 
should be in good faith and without evasion en- 
forced." But he added a voluntary promise to 
enlarge and extend the scope and operation of the 
actual statute, as follows : — 

"There is a class of government positions which 



yS THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET. 

are not within the letter of the civil service statute, 
but which are so disconnected with the policy of an 
administration that the removal therefrom of present 
incumbents, in my opinion, should not be made 
during the terms for which they were appointed 
solely on partisan grounds, and for the purpose of 
putting in their places those who are in political 
accord with the appointing power. But many now 
holding such positions have forfeited all just claim 
to retention, because they have used their places for 
party purposes, in disregard of their duty to the peo- 
ple, and because, instead of being decent public 
servants, they have proved themselves offensive par- 
tisans and unscrupulous manipulators of local party 
management. The lessons of the past should be 
unlearned, and such officials, as well as their suc- 
cessors, should be taught that efficiency, fitness, and 
devotion to public duty are the conditions of their 
continuance in public place, and that the quiet and 
unobtrusive exercise of individual political rights is 
the reasonable measure of their party service." 

In April, 1885, Mr. Cleveland highly gratified the 
true friends of civil service reform by appointing 
Henry G. Pearson, the Republican incumbent, for 
a full term as postmaster of New York.- This 
appointment in the public interest was made in the 
face of a party pressure and a party denunciation 
which few men would have had the strength to resist, 
and the act was regarded not only as a proof of Mr. 
Cleveland's firmness and courage, but as a o-uarant.ee 
that he would adhere to his civil service reform 
pledges. 

Prior to the election of Cleveland there were 



GROVER CLEVELAND AS PRESIDENT. 



79 



many phases of public opinion as to his views in 
relation to civil service, and, as his election was 
largely due to the unanimity of the Independent 
party in casting their votes with the Democrats, it is 
perhaps as well to give here the reasons which 
Drought this about, as presented by Carl Schurz, a 
prominent Independent. 



SPEECH OF HON. CARL SCHURZ BEFORE THE MEETING OF 
INDEPENDENT VOTERS, BROOKLYN, AUGUST 5, 1SS4. 

. . . The Democratic party has never presented a candi- 
date whom any friend of good government, Democrat or 
Republican, could see step into the presidential chair with a 
greater feeling of security than Grove r Cleveland. This time, 
therefore, is uncommonly propitious for a change of power, on 
account of the safety with which it can be effected. . . . 

Mr. Blaine's advocates loudly complain that Governor Cleve- 
land is not a statesman. It must be admitted that he is not a 
statesman in the Blaine sense. If he were, it would be danger- 
ous to vote for him. He has evidently not the genius to be all 
things to everybody. He is not magnetic enough to draw 
every rascal to his support. He will probably be cold enough 
to freeze every job out of the White House. He is not brill- 
iant enough to cover the whole world with flighty schemes. 
But, unless I am much mistaken, he possesses very much of 
that kind of statesmanship which is now especially required, 
and for which Mr. Blaine has conspicuously disqualified himself. 
And that is the statesmanship of honest and efficient adminis- 
tration. What is the kind of business which under present cir- 
cumstances the executive branch of the national government 
has to attend to ? It is in the main administrative business. It 
is to see to it that the laws be faithfully and efficiently executed, 
and, to that end, to introduce and maintain honest and efficient 
methods for the execution of the laws, and to enforce the 
necessary responsibility. This is administration, and this is 
under present circumstances the principal business of the 
executive. No flighty genius, therefore, is required to make 
business for the government ; but what we want is solid ability 



So THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET. 

and courageous integrity to see to it that the business which is 
found there be well done. 

Of this kind of statesmanship Mr. Cleveland, as all who 
have impartially observed his career will admit, possesses in a 
high degree the instinct, and now also the experience. When 
he entered upon his duties as mayor of Buffalo, a few years ago, 
he said, " It seems to me that a successful and faithful ministra- 
tion of the government of a city may be accomplished by con- 
stantly bearing in mind that we are the trustees and agents of 
our fellow-citizens, holding their funds in sacred trust to be 
expended for their benefit ; that we should at all times be pre- 
pared to render an honest account to them touching the manner 
of its expenditure ; and that the affairs of the city should be 
conducted as far as possible upon the same principles as a good 
business man manages his private concerns." You may say 
that this is neither very brilliant nor quite original. But it con- 
tains after all the fundamental principles of honest and efficient 
administration, applicable not only to a city, but to a State and 
to the nation. And when a public man coming into power 
speaks such words, and fully understands what they mean, and 
has the ability and courage to give them full effect, he pos- 
sesses a statesmanship for executive office infinitely more valua- 
ble to the country than Mr. Blaine's statesmanlike skill and 
experience in making himself "useful in various channels," 
and being a deadhead in none. 

And that Mr. Cleveland did understand the meaning of 
what he said, and was determined to carry it out, he showed 
sometimes in a way which astonished the natives. Here is an 
instance : When the city council of Buffalo, composed of Dem- 
ocrats and Republicans, had passed a resolution approving an 
extravagant contract for street-cleaning, his veto message con- 
tained the following language : " This is a time for plain speech. 
I withhold my assent from the same [the resolution] because I 
regard it as the culmination of a most barefaced, impudent, and 
shameless scheme to betray the interests of the people and to 
worse than squander the public money. I will not be misun- 
derstood in this matter. There are those whose votes were 
given for this resolution whom I cannot and will not suspect of 
a wilful neglect of the interests they are sworn to protect ; but 
it has been fully demonstrated that there are influences, 
both in and about your honorable body, which it behooves 



G ROVER CLEVELAND AS PRESIDENT. $j 

every honest man to watch and avoid with the greatest care." 
This meant as plainly as parliamentary language could express 
it : " Gentlemen, there are some scoundrels among you. I 
know it. And I want you to know that I know it, and that I 
watch you, and that your schemes will not succeed as long as I 
am here." I like that kind of statesmanship. The taxpayers 
of Buffalo liked it. The people of the State soon showed that 
they liked it. And I think the people of the United States 
would like it too, the knaves always excepted. 

Mr. Cleveland had never been a professed civil service re- 
former. But he soon showed that he understood and adopted 
the vital principles of civil service reform by instinct. He said 
in his letter of acceptance, when nominated for the governor- 
ship, " Subordinates in public place should be selected and re- 
tained for their efficiency, and not because they may be used to 
accomplish partisan ends. The people have a right to demand 
here, as in cases of private employment, that their money be 
paid to those who will render the best service in return, and 
that the appointment to and tenure of such places should depend 
upon ability and merit." This is the whole in a nutshell. And 
he not only understood it and said it, but he acted accordingly 
when in power, for he favored and signed and faithfully helped 
to execute the Civil Service Act for the State of New York, 
which embodies just these principles, although he knew that it 
cut off the loaves and fishes of public spoil in a great measure 
from his own party. But more. He said in the same letter 
of acceptance, "The expenditure of money to influence the 
action of the people at the polls, or to secure legislation, is cal- 
culated to excite the gravest concern. It is useless and foolish 
to shut our eyes to the fact that this evil exists among us, and 
the party which leads in an honest effort to return to better and 
purer methods will receive the confidence of our citizens and 
secure their support." Having said this, he favored and signed 
a prohibition of political assessments in the civil service of New 
York, although he knew that this measure would most severely 
curtail the electioneering funds of his own party. 

As a member of the Civil Service Reform Association, I may 
say that, when we prepared and urged a legislative reform meas- 
ure, we never inquired whether Governor Cleveland, although a 
Democrat, would sign it, because we knew he would if it was a 
good one. When the citizens of New York City sought to cor- 



82 THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET. 

rect the crying abuses of their municipal government, they, too, 
always counted with the same confidence upon the Governor, no 
matter whether the Democratic or the Republican party might 
be hurt by a measure of true reform, and that confidence was 
always justified. And, by the way, it is rather a shabby piece 
of business that some of the gentlemen who leaned upon the 
Governor as one of their principal pillars of strength, and were 
then full of praise of him for his courageous resistance to party 
pressure, should throw paltry quibbles at him since he has be- 
come a candidate for the Presidency. Had he not been nomi- 
nated, it would have been said that the unbending courage for 
the right with which he resisted pressure coming from his own 
party was the very thing that defeated him. It was, indeed, the 
thing which made his enemies hate him so bitterly. But take 
his whole record. When he ceased to be mayor of Buffalo, a 
Republican paper said, " Yesterday Buffalo lost the best mayor 
she ever had." When he ceases to be Governor, to become 
President of the United States, these very gentlemen will say, 
" New York never had a more efficient Governor than this." 

Mr. Cleveland resigned his office as Governor of 
the State of New York upon the meeting of the 
State Legislature, January 6, 1885, but continued his 
residence in Albany. The intervening period be- 
tween his resignation as Governor and his inaugu- 
ration as President was occupied in receiving visits 
from many of the leading men of the Democratic 
party. On February 27, 1885, a letter of Mr. Cleve- 
land was published in reply to one signed by sev- 
eral members of Congress. In this letter he indi- 
cated his opposition to an increased coinage of silver, 
and suggested a suspension of the purchase and 
coinage of that metal as a measure of safety, in 
order to prevent a financial crisis and the ultimate 
expulsion of gold and silver. His inaugural address 
was written during the ten days previous to his 
departure for Washington. On the evening of 



G ROVER CLEVELAND AS PRESIDENT. 



83 



March 2, 1885, Grover Cleveland quietly left Albany, 
accompanied by his two sisters, Daniel Manning, and 
Colonel Daniel S. Lamont, arriving in Washington 
at 7 a. m. On the following day he went to the 
Capitol with President Arthur, and, after the usual 
preliminaries had been completed, he delivered his 
inaugural address from the steps of the Capitol, on 
March 4, 1885, as follows: — 

INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 

Fellow-Citizens, — In the presence of this vast assemblage 
of my countrymen I am about to supplement, and seal by the 
oath which I shall take, the manifestation of the will of a great 
and free people. In the exercise of their power, and the right 
of self-government, they have committed to one of their fellow- 
citizens a supreme and sacred trust, and he here consecrates 
himself to their service. This impressive ceremony adds little 
to the solemn sense of responsibility with which I contemplate 
the duty I owe to all the people of the land. Nothing can relieve 
me from anxiety lest by any act of mine their interests may 
suffer, and nothing is needed to strengthen my resolution to 
engage every faculty and effort in the promotion of their wel- 
fare. 

Amid the din of party strife, the people's choice was made, 
but its attendant circumstances have demonstrated anew the 
strength and safety of a government by the people. In each 
succeeding year it more clearly appears that our democratic 
principle needs no apology, and that in its fearless and faithful 
application is to be found the surest guarantee of good govern- 
ment. But the best results in the operation of a government 
wherein every citizen has a share largely depend upon a proper 
limitation of purely partisan zeal and effort, and a correct ap- 
preciation of the time when the heat of the partisan should be 
merged in the patriotism of the citizen. 

To-day the executive branch of the government is transferred 
to new keeping. But this is still the government of all the 
people, and it should be none the less an object of their affec- 
tionate solicitude. At this hour the animosities of political 



8 4 



THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET. 



strife, the bitterness of partisan defeat, and the exultation of 
partisan triumph, should be supplanted by an ungrudging 
acquiescence in the popular will, and a sober conscientious con- 
cern for the general weal. Moreover, if from this hour we 
cheerfully and honestly abandon all sectional prejudice and 
distrust, and determine, with manly confidence in one another, 
to work out harmoniously the achievements of our national 
destiny, we shall deserve to realize all the benefits which oui 
happy form of government can bestow. 

On this auspicious occasion we may well renew the pledge of 
our devotion to the Constitution, which, launched by the found- 
ers of the republic and consecrated by their prayers and pa- 
triotic devotion, has for almost a century borne the hopes and 
aspirations of a great people through prosperity and peace, and 
through the shock of foreign conflicts and the perils of domes- 
tic strife and vicissitudes. By the father of his country our 
Constitution was commended for adoption, as " the result of a 
spirit of amity and mutual concession." In that same spirit it 
should be administered, in order to promote the lasting welfare 
of the country, and to secure the full measure of its priceless 
benefits to us and to those who will succeed 'o the blessings of 
our national life. The large variety of diverse and competing 
interests subject to federal control, persistently seeking the 
recognition of their claims, need give us no fear that " the 
greatest good to the greatest number " will fail to be accom- 
plished if in the halls of national legislation that spirit of 
amity and mutual concession shall prevail in which the Consti- 
tution had its birth. If this involves the surrender or post- 
ponement of private interests, and the abandonment of local 
advantages, compensation will be found in the assurance that 
thus the common interest is subserved and the general welfare 
advanced. 

In the discharge of my official duty I shall endeavor to be 
guided by a just and unstrained construction of the Constitution, 
a careful observance of the distinction between the powers 
granted to the federal government and those reserved to the 
State or to the people, and by a cautious appreciation of those 
functions which by the Constitution and laws have been espe- 
cially assigned to the executive branch of the government. But 
he who takes the oath to-day to preserve, protect, and defend 
the Constitution of the United States only assumes the solemn 



GROVER CLEVELAND AS PRESIDENT. 85 

obligation which every patriotic citizen — on the farm, in the 
workshop, in the bus)' marts of trade, and everywhere — should 
share with him. The Constitution which prescribes his oath, 
my countrymen, is yours, the government you have chosen him 
to administer for a time is yours, the suffrage which executes 
the will of freemen is yours, the laws and the entire scheme of 
our civil rule — from the town meeting to the State capitol and 
the national capitol — is yours. Your every voter, as surely as 
your chief magistrate, — under the same high sanction, though in 
a different sphere, — exercises a public trust. Nor is this all. 
Every citizen owes to the country a vigilant watch and close 
scrutinv of its public servants, and a fair and reasonable esti- 
mate of their fidelity and usefulness. Thus is the people's will 
impressed upon the whole framework of our civil polity, — muni- 
cipal, State, and federal, — and this is the price of our liberty 
and the inspiration of our faith in the republic. It is the duty 
of those serving the people in public place to closely limit pub- 
lic expenditures to the actual needs of the government, econom- 
ically administered, because this bounds the right of the govern- 
ment to exact tribute from the earnings of labor or the property 
of the citizen, and because public extravagance begets extrava- 
gance among the people. We should never be ashamed of the 
simplicity and prudential economies which are best suited to the 
operation of a republican form of government and most com- 
patible with the mission of the American people. Those who 
are selected for a limited time to manage public affairs are still 
of the people, and may do much by their example to encourage, 
consistently with the dignity of their official functions, that plain 
way of life which among their fellow-citizens aids integrity and 
promotes thrift and prospjrity. 

FOREIGN POLICY. 

The genius of our institutioqs, the needs of our people in 
their home life, and the attention which is demanded for the 
settlement and development of the resources of our vast terri- 
tory, dictate the scrupulous avoidance of any departure from 
that foreign policy commended by the history, the traditions, 
and the prosperity of our republic. It is the policy of indepen- 
dence favored by our position and defended by our known love 
of justice and by our power. It is the policy of peace suit- 



86 THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET. 

able to our interests. It is the policy of neutrality, rejecting 
any share in foreign broils and ambitions upon other conti- 
nents, and repelling their intrusion here. It is the policy of 
Monroe and of Washington and Jefferson — " Peace, commerce, 
and honest friendship with all nations ; entangling alliance with 
none." 

FINANCIAL POLICY. 

A due regard for the interests and prosperity of all the 
people demands that our finances shall be established upon 
such a sound and sensible basis as will secure the safety and 
confidence of business interests, and make the wage of labor 
sure and steady, and that our system of revenue shall be so 
adjusted as to relieve the people of unnecessary taxation, having 
a due regard to the interests of capital invested and working- 
men employed in American industries, and preventing the 
accumulation of a surplus in the treasury to tempt extravagance 
and waste. Care for the property of the nation and for the 
needs of future settlers requires that the public domain should 
be protected from purloining schemes and unlawful occupa- 
tion. 

INDIAN POLICY. 

The convenience of the people demands that the Indians 
within our boundaries shall be fairly and honestly treated as 
wards of the government, and their education and civilization 
promoted with a view to their ultimate citizenship, and that 
polygamy in the Territories, destructive of the family relations 
and offensive to the moral sense of the civilized world, shall be 
repressed. The laws should be rigidly enforced which prohibit 
the immigration of a servile class to compete with American 
labor, with no intention of acquiring citizenship, and bringing 
with them and retaining habits and customs repugnant to our 
civilization. 

CIVIL SERVICE REFORM. 

The people demand reform in the administration of the 
government, and the application of business principles to public 
affairs. As a means to this end, civil service reform should be 
in good faith enforced. Our citizens have the right to protec- 



G ROVER CLEVELAND AS PRESIDENT. 87 

tion from the incompetency of public employe's, who hold their 
places solely as the reward of partisan service, and from the 
corrupting influence of those who promise and the vicious 
methods of those who expect such rewards. And those who 
worthily seek public employment have the right to insist that 
merit and competency shall be recognized, instead of party sub- 
serviency or the surrender of honest political belief. 

THE FREEDMEN. 

In the administration of a government pledged to do equal 
and exact justice to all men there should be no pretext for 
anxiety touching the protection of the freedmen in their rights 
or their security in the enjoyment of their privileges under the 
Constitution and its amendments. All discussion as to their 
fitness for the place accorded to them as American citizens is 
idle and unprofitable except as it suggests the necessity for 
their improvement. The fact that they are citizens entitles 
them to all the rights due to that relation, and charges them 
with all its duties, obligations, and responsibilities. 

CLOSING REMARKS. 

These topics and the constant and ever varying wants of an 
active and enterprising population may well receive the atten- 
tion and the patriotic endeavors of all who make and execute 
the federal law. Our duties are practical, and call for indus- 
trious application, an intelligent perception of the claims for 
public office, and, above all, a firm determination by united 
action to secure to all the people of the land the full benefits of 
the best form of government ever vouchsafed to man. And let 
us not trust to human effort alone, but, humbly acknowledging 
the power and goodness of Almighty God, who presides over the 
destiny of nations, and who has at all times been revealed in 
our country's history, let us invoke his aid and his blessing 
upon our labors. 

This admirable presentation of the views of 
Grover Cleveland was accepted by the people of the 
United States as his prog-ramme for their govern- 
ment, and the result of his administration has been 



88 THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET. 

unanimously admitted to be full evidence of the 
wisdom of his judgment and his honest intentions to 
do all in his power to carry out the views thus pre- 
sented. On the 13th of March he issued a procla- 
mation in reference to the removal of unlawful white 
intruders from Oklahoma, Indian Territory. He 
ordered a naval expedition for the protection of 
American citizens at Aspinwall. By his instruction 
General Sheridan visited the Indian Territory to 
report upon the condition of the various tribes who 
were threatening war with each other. In the 
interest of the great agricultural population of the 
West, on the 10th of August, 1885, the President 
issued an order warning all cattle-graziers to remove 
all fences. On the 8th of December, 1885, Grover 
Cleveland issued his first message to Congress, at 
the beginning of the first session of the Forty-ninth 
Congress. We have only room for some of the 
special matters referred to by the President. Our 
relations with foreign nations were all friendly. The 
attention of Congress was specially called to the 
importance of our diplomatic and consular service, 
with suggestions for its improvement ; also to the 
prohibitory duties upon paintings by foreign artists, 
, with a recommendation that they should be abol- 
ished. 

OUR REVENUES. 

The fact that our revenues are in excess of the actual needs 
of an economical administration of the government justifies a 
reduction in the amount exacted from the people for its support. 
Our government is but the means established by the will of a 
free people, by which certain principles are applied which they 
have adopted for their benefit and protection ; and it is never 



GROVER CLEVELAND AS PRESIDENT. 



89 



better administered, and its true spirit is never better observed, 
than when the people's taxation for its support is scrupulously 
limited to the actual necessity of expenditure, and distributed 
according to a just and equitable plan. 

The proposition with which we have to deal is the reduction 
of the revenue received by the government and indirectly 
paid by the people from customs duties. The question of 
free trade is not involved, nor is there now any occasion for the 
general discussion of the wisdom or expediency of a protective 
system. 

Justice and fairness dictate that, in any modification of our 
present laws relating to revenue, the industries and interests 
which have been encouraged by such laws, and in which our 
citizens have large investments, should not be ruthlessly injured 
or destroyed. We should also deal with the subject in such 
manner as to protect the interests of American labor, which 
is the capital of our workingmen ; its stability and proper 
remuneration furnish the most justifiable pretext for a protective 
policy. 

Within these limitations a certain reduction should be made 
in our customs revenue. The amount of such reduction having 
been determined, the inquiry follows, where can it best be re- 
mitted, and what articles can best be released from duty, in the 
interest of our citizens ? 

I think the reduction should be made in the revenue derived 
from a tax upon the imported necessaries of life. We thus 
directly lessen the cost of living in every family of the land, and 
release to the people in every humble home a larger measure of 
the rewards of frugal industry. 

OUR NAVY. 

All must admit the importance of an effective navy to a 
nation like ours, having such an extended seacoast to protect. 
And yet we have not a single vessel of war that could keep the 
seas against a first-class vessel of any important power. Such 
a condition ought not longer to continue. The nation that 
cannot resist aggression is constantly exposed to it. Its foreign 
policy is of necessity weak, and its negotiations are conducted 
with disadvantage, because it is not in condition to enforce the 
terms dictated by its sense of right and justice. 



90 



THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CAB/NET. 



Inspired, as I am, by the hope, shared by all patriotic citizens, 
that the day is not very far distant when our navy will be such 
as befits our standing among the nations of the earth, and re- 
joiced at every step that leads in the direction of such a con- 
summation, I deem it my duty to especially direct the attention 
of Congress to the close of the report of the Secretary of the 
Navy, in which the humiliating weakness of the present organi- 
zation of his department is exhibited, and the startling abuses 
and waste of its present methods are exposed. The conviction 
is forced upon us, with the certainty of mathematical demonstra- 
tion, that, before we proced further in the restoration of a navy, 
we need a thoroughly reorganized Navy Department. The fact 
that within seventeen years more than seventy-five millions of 
dollars have been spent in the construction, repair, equipment, 
and armament of vessels, and the further fact that, instead of an 
effective and creditable fleet, we have only the discontent and 
apprehension of a nation undefended by war vessels, added to 
the disclosures now made, do not permit us to doubt that every 
attempt to revive our navy has thus far, for the most part, been 
misdirected, and all our efforts in that direction have been little 
better than blind gropings and expensive, aimless follies. 

Unquestionably, if we are content with the maintenance of a 
Navy Department simply as a shabby ornament to the govern- 
ment, a constant watchfulness may prevent some of the scandal 
and abuse which have found their way into our present organiza- 
tion, and its incurable waste may be reduced to the minimum. 
But if we desire to build ships for present usefulness, instead of 
naval reminders of the days that are past, we must have a 
department organized for the work, supplied with all the talent 
and ingenuity our country affords, prepared to take advantage 
of the experience of other nations, systematized so that all effort 
shall unite and lead in one direction, and fully imbued with the 
conviction that war vessels, though new, are useless unless they 
combine all that the ingenuity of man has up to this day brought 
forth relating to their construction. 

I earnestly commend the portion of the secretary's report 
devoted to this subject to the attention of Congress, in the 
hope that his suggestions touching the reorganization of his 
department may be adopted as the first step toward the recon- 
struction of our navy. 



G ROVER CLEVELAND AS PRESIDENT. 



OUR INDIANS. 



91 



They are within the care of our government, and their rights 
are, or should be, protected from invasion by the most solemn 
obligations. They are properly enough called the wards of the 
government; and it should be borne in mind that this guardian- 
ship involves, on our part, efforts for the improvement of their 
condition and the enforcement of their rights. There seems to 
be general concurrence in the proposition that the ultimate 
object of their treatment should be their civilization and citizen- 
ship. Fitted by these to keep pace in the march of progress 
with the advanced civilization about them, they will readily 
assimilate with the mass of our population, assuming the 
responsibilities and receiving the protection incident to this 
condition. 



OUR LANDS. 

It is not for the " common benefit of the United States " that 
a large area of the public lands should be acquired, directly or 
through fraud, in the hands of a single individual. The nation's 
strength is in the people. The nation's prosperity is in their 
prosperity. The nation's glory is in the equality of her justice. 
The nation's perpetuity is in the patriotism of all her people. 
Hence, as far as practicable, the plan adopted in the disposal 
of the public lands should have in view the original policy, 
which encouraged many purchasers of these lands for homes, 
and discouraged the massing of large areas. Exclusive of 
Alaska, about three-fifths of the national domain has been 
sold, or subjected to contract or grant. Of the remaining two- 
fifths, a considerable portion is either mountain or desert. A 
rapidly increasing population creates a growing demand for 
homes, and the accumulation of wealth inspires an eager com- 
petition to obtain the public land for speculative purposes. In 
the future, this collision of interests will be more marked than 
in the past, and the execution of the nation's trust, in behalf of 
our settlers, will be more difficult. I therefore commend to 
your attention the recommendations contained in the report of 
the Secretary of the Interior with reference to the repeal and 
modification of certain of our land laws. 



9 2 



THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET 



OUR SOLDIERS. 



While there is no expenditure of the public funds which the 
people more cheerfully approve than that made in recognition 
of the services of our soldiers, living and dead, the sentiment 
underlying the subject should not be vitiated by the introduc- 
tion of any fraudulent practices. Therefore it is fully as 
important that the rolls should be cleansed of all those who by 
fraud have secured a place thereon as that meritorious claims 
should be speedily examined and adjusted. The reforms in the 
methods of doing the business of this bureau-which have lately 
been inaugurated promise better results in both these directions. 

OUR HOMES. 

The strength, the perpetuity, and the destiny of the nation 
rest upon our homes, established by the law of God, guarded by 
parental care, regulated by parental authority, and sanctified 
by parental love. 

These are not the homes of polygamy. 

The mothers of our land, who rule the nation as they mould 
the characters and guide the actions of their sons, live accord- 
ing to God's holy ordinances, and each, secure and happy in the 
exclusive love of the father of her children, sheds the warm 
light of true womanhood, unperverted and unpolluted, upon all 
within her pure and wholesome family circle. 

These are not the cheerless, crushed, and unwomanly mothers 
of polygamy. 

The fathers of our families are the best citizens of the 
republic. Wife and children are the sources of patriotism, 
and conjugal and parental affection beget devotion to the coun- 
try. The man who, undefiled with plural marriage, is sur- 
rounded in his single home with his wife and children has 
a stake in the country which inspires him with respect for its 
laws and courage for its defence. 

These are not the fathers of polygamous families. 

There is no feature of this practice, or the system which sanc- 
tions it, which is not opposed to all that is of value in our insti- 
tutions. 

There should be no relaxation in the firm but just execution 
of the law now in operation, and I should be glad to approve 



G ROVER CLEVELAND AS PRESIDENT. 



93 



such further discreet legislation as will rid the country of this 
blot upon its fair fame. 

Since the people upholding polygamy in our Territories are 
reenforced by immigration from other lands, I recommend that 
a law be passed to prevent the importation of Mormons into the 
country. . . . 

OUR FARMERS. 

The agricultural interest of the country demands just recog- 
nition and liberal encouragement. It sustains with certainty 
and unfailing strength our nation's prosperity by the products 
of its steady toil, and bears its full share of the burden of taxa- 
tion without complaint. Our agriculturists have but slight 
personal representation in the councils of the nation, and are 
generally content with the humbler duties of citizenship, and 
willing to trust to the bounty of nature for a reward of their 
labor. But the magnitude and value of this industry is appre- 
ciated when the statement is made that of our total annual 
exports more than three-fourths are the products of agriculture, 
and of our total population nearly one-half are exclusively 
engaged in that occupation. . . . 

CIVIL SERVICE REFORM. 

I am inclined to think that there is no sentiment more general 
in the minds of the people of our country than a conviction of 
the correctness of the principle upon which the law enforcing 
civil service reform is based. In its present condition, the law 
regulates only a part of the subordinate public positions through- 
out the country. It applies the test of fitness to applicants for 
these places by means of a competitive examination, and gives 
large discretion to the commissioners as to the character of the 
examination, and many other matters connected with its execu- 
tion. Thus the rules and regulations adopted by the commis- 
sion have much to do with the practical usefulness of the 
statute, and with the results of its application. 

The people may well trust the commission to execute the law 
with perfect fairness and with as little irritation as is possible. 
But of course no relaxation of the principle which underlies it, 
and no weakening of the safeguards which surround it, can be 
expected. Experience in its administration will probably sug- 



94 



THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET. 



gest amendment of the methods of its execution, but I venture 
to hope that we shall never again be remitted to the system 
which distributes public positions purely as rewards for partisan 
service. Doubts may well be entertained whether our govern- 
ment could survive the strain of a continuance of this system, 
which, upon every change of administration, inspires an immense 
army of claimants for office to lay siege to the patronage of gov- 
ernment, engrossing the time of public officers with their impor- 
tunities, spreading abroad the contagion of their disappointment, 
and filling the air with the tumult of their discontent. . . . 

CONCLUSION. 

In conclusion, I commend to the wise care and thoughtful 
attention of Congress the needs, the welfare, and the aspira- 
tions of an intelligent and generous nation. To subordinate 
these to the narrow advantages of partisanship or the accom- 
plishment of selfish aims is to violate the people's trust and be- 
tray the people's interests. But an individual sense of responsi- 
bility on the part of each of us, and a stern determination to 
perform our duty well, must give us place among those who have 
added in their day and generation to the glory and prosperity of 
our beloved land. 

Grover Cleveland. 

Washington, December 8, 1885. 

It will thus be seen that the President kept con- 
stantly in view all the points suggested in his inau- 
gural address, and a perusal of this work will 
indicate, beyond contradiction, a consistent follow- 
ing out of his own convictions as to what was best 
for the interests of the nation. On June 2, 1886, 
Grover Cleveland was married to Frances Folsom. 
It is eminently right and proper that some allusion 
should be made to an event which has added so 
much to the power of the executive. While the 
President has secured to himself the esteem and ad- 
miration of his fellow-citizens for his thoroughly 



GROVER CLEVELAND AS PRESIDENT. 



95 



honest and common-sense policy of administrating 
the affairs of the nation, Mrs. Cleveland has secured 
our hearts ; in her presence partisanship is at an 
end, and there is but one unanimous feeling of love 
and affection for her, from one extreme of this great 
land to the other. On the 6th of December, 1886, 
the President delivered his second annual message 
to Congress, and from the tenor of the following 
selections it will be seen that his persistence in the 
plans promulgated in his inaugural had already pro- 
duced good results. 

OUR FOREIGN POLICY. 

Our government has consistently maintained its relations of 
friendship toward all other powers, and of neighborly interest 
toward those whose possessions are contiguous to our own. 
Few questions have arisen during the past year with other gov- 
ernments, and none of those are beyond the reach of settlement 
in friendly counsel. . . . 

Cases have continued to occur in Germany, giving rise to 
much correspondence in relation to the privilege of sojourn of 
our naturalized citizens of German origin revisiting the land of 
their birth, yet I am happy to state that our relations with that 
country have lost none of their accustomed cordiality. . . . 

A treaty of extradition between the United States and Japan, 
the first concluded by that empire, has been lately pro- 
claimed. . . . 

The encouraging development of beneficial and intimate 
relations between the United States and Mexico, which has 
been so marked within the past few years, is at once the occa- 
sion of congratulation and of friendly solicitude. I urgently 
renew my former representation of the need of speedy legisla- 
tion by Congress to carry into effect the Reciprocity Commercial 
Convention of January 20, 1883. 

Our commercial treaty of 183 1 with Mexico was terminated, 
according to its provisions in 1881, upon notification given by 
Mexico, in pursuance of her announced policy of recasting all 
her commercial treaties. Mexico has since concluded with sev- 



96 



THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET. 



eral foreign governments new treaties of commerce and naviga- 
tion, defining alien rights of trade, property, and residence, 
treatment of shipping, consular privileges, and the like. Our 
yet unexecuted Reciprocity Convention of 1883 covers none of 
these points, the settlement of which is so necessary to good 
relationship. I propose to initiate with Mexico negotiations for 
a new and enlarged treaty of commerce and navigation. . . . 

OUR CONSULAR SERVICE. 

Pursuant to a provision of the diplomatic and consular appro- 
priation act, approved July 1, 1886, the estimates submitted by 
the Secretary of State for the maintenance of the consular ser- 
vice have been recast, on the basis of salaries for all officers to 
whom such allowance is deemed advisable. Advantage has 
been taken of this to redistribute the salaries of the offices now 
appropriated for, in accordance with the work performed, the 
importance of the representative duties of the incumbent, and 
the cost of living at each post. The last consideration has been 
too often lost sight of in the allowances heretofore made. The 
compensation which may suffice for the decent maintenance of a 
worthy and capable officer in a position of onerous and repre- 
sentative trust at a post readily accessible, and where the neces- 
saries of life are abundant and cheap, may prove an inadequate 
pittance in distant lands, where the better part of a year's pay is 
consumed in reaching the post of duty, and where the comforts 
of ordinary civilized existence can only be obtained with diffi- 
culty and at exorbitant cost. I trust that, in considering the 
submitted schedules, no mistaken theory of economy will per- 
petuate a system which in the past has virtually closed to de- 
serving talent many offices where capacity and attainments of a 
high order are indispensable, and in not a few instances has 
brought discredit on our national character, and entailed em- 
barrassment and even suffering on those deputed to uphold our 
dignity and interests abroad. 

In connection with this subject, I earnestly reiterate the 
practical necessity of supplying some mode of trustworthy 
inspection and report of the manner in which the consulates 
are conducted. In the absence of such reliable information, 
efficiency can scarcely be rewarded, or its opposite cor- 
rected. . . . 



C ROVER CLEVELAND AS PRESIDENT. 



OUR REVENUES. 



97 



In my last annual message to Congress, attention was 
directed to the fact that the revenues of the government ex- 
ceeded its actual needs ; and it was suggested that legislative 
action should be taken to relieve the people from the unneces- 
sary burden of taxation thus made apparent. 

In view of the pressing importance of the subject, I deem it 
my duty to again urge its consideration. . . . 

In readjusting the burdens of federal taxation, a sound pub- 
lic policy requires that such of our citizens as have built up 
large and important industries under present conditions should 
not be suddenly and to their injury deprived of advantages to 
which they have adapted their business ; but, if the public good 
requires it, they should be content with such consideration as 
shall deal fairly and cautiously with their interests, while the 
just demand of the people for relief from needless taxation is 
honestly answered. 

A reasonable and timely submission to such a demand should 
certainly be possible without disastrous shock to any interest ; 
and a cheerful concession sometimes averts abrupt and heed- 
less action, often the outgrowth of impatience and delayed 
justice. 

THE LABOR QUESTION. 

Due regard should be also accorded, in any proposed read- 
justment, to the interests of American labor so far as they are 
involved. We congratulate ourselves that there is among us no 
laboring class, fixed within unyielding bounds and doomed 
under all conditions to the inexorable fate of daily toil. We 
recognize in labor a chief factor in the wealth of the republic, 
and we treat those who have it in their keeping as citizens en- 
titled to the most careful regard and thoughtful attention. This 
regard and attention should be awarded them not only because 
labor is the capital of our workingmen, justly entitled to its 
share of government favor, but for the further and not less im- 
portant reason that the laboring man surrounded by his family 
in his humble home, as a consumer, is vitally interested in all 
that cheapens the cost of living and enables him to bring 
within his domestic circle additional comforts and advantages. 

This relation of the workingman to the revenue laws of the 



9 8 



THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET. 



country, and the manner in which it palpably influences the 
question of wages, should not be forgotten in the justifiable 
prominence given to the proper maintenance of the supply and 
protection of well paid labor. And these considerations suggest 
such an arrangement of government revenues as shall reduce 
the expense of living, while it does not curtail the opportunity 
for work or reduce the compensation of American labor, and 
injuriously affect its condition and the dignified place it holds 
in the estimation of our people. . . . 

I recommend that, keeping in view all these considerations, 
the increasing and unnecessary surplus of national income 
annually accumulating be released to the people, by an amend- 
ment to our revenue laws, which shall cheapen the price of the 
necessaries of life and give freer entrance to such imported 
materials as by American labor may be manufactured into mar- 
ketable commodities. 

Nothing can be accomplished, however, in the direction of 
this much needed reform, unless the subject is approached in a 
patriotic spirit of devotion to the interests of the entire country 
and with a willingness to yield something for the public 
good. . . . 

OUR FORTIFICATIONS. 

The defenceless condition of our seacoast and lake frontier 
is perfectly palpable ; the examinations made must convince us 
all that certain of our cities, named in the report of the board, 
should be fortified, and that work on the most important of 
these fortifications should be commenced at once ; the work has 
been thoroughly considered and laid out, the Secretary of War 
reports, but all is delayed in default of Congressional 
action. . . . 

OUR INDIANS. 

The exhibit made of the condition of our Indian population 
and the progress of the work for their enlightenment, notwith- 
standing the many embarrassments which hinder the better ad- 
ministration of this important branch of the service, is a grati- 
fying and hopeful one. . . . 

There is less opposition to the education and training of the 
Indian youth, as shown by the increased attendance upon the 



G ROVER CLEVELAND AS PRESIDENT. 



99 



schools, and there is a yielding tendency for the individual 
holding of lands. Development and advancement in these 
directions are essential, and should have every encouragement. 
As the rising generation are taught the language of civilization 
and trained in habits of industry, they should assume the duties, 
privileges, and responsibilities of citizenship. 

No obstacle should hinder the location and settlement of any 
Indian willing to take land in severalty ; on the contrary, the 
inclination to do so should be stimulated at all times when 
proper and expedient. But there is no authority of law for 
making allotments on some of the reservations, and on others 
the allotments provided for are so small that the Indians, though 
ready and desiring to settle down, are not willing to accept 
such small areas, when their reservations contain ample lands 
to afford them homesteads of sufficient size to meet their present 
and future needs. . . . 

OUR SOLDIERS. 

The American people, with a patriotic and grateful regard 
for our ex-soldiers, — too broad and too sacred to be monopolized 
by any special advocates, — are not only willing but anxious 
that equal and exact justice should be done to all honest 
claimants for pensions. In their sight the friendless and desti- 
tute soldier, dependent on public charity, if otherwise entitled, 
has precisely the same right to share in the provision made for 
those who fought their country's battles as those better able, 
through friends and influence, to push their claims. Every 
pension that is granted under our present plan upon any other 
grounds than actual service and injury or disease incurred in 
such service, and every instance of the many in which pensions 
are increased on other grounds than the merits of the claim, 
work an'injustice to the brave and crippled, but poor and friend- 
less soldier who is entirely neglected or who must be content 
with the smallest sum allowed under general laws. . . . 

CIVIL SERVICE REFORM. 

The continued operation of the law relating to our civil ser- 
vice has added the most convincing proofs of its necessity and 
usefulness. It is a fact worthy of note that every public officer 
who has a just idea of his duty to the people testifies to the 



700 THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET. 

value of this reform. Its staunchest friends are found among 
those who understand it best, and its warmest supporters are 
those who are restrained and protected by its requirements. 

The meaning of such restraint and protection is not appre- 
ciated by those who want places under the government, regard- 
less of merit and efficiency, nor by those who insist that the 
selection for such places should rest upon a proper credential 
showing active partisan work. They mean to public officers, if 
not their lives, the only opportunity afforded them to attend to 
public business, and they mean to the good people of the coun- 
try the better performance of the work of their government. 

It is exceedingly strange that the scope and nature of this 
reform are so little understood, and that so many things not in- 
cluded within its plan are called by its name. When cavil yields 
more fully to examination, the system will have large additions 
to the number of its friends. 

Our civil service reform may be imperfect in some of its 
details ; it may be misunderstood and opposed ; it may not 
always be faithfully applied ; its designs may sometimes mis- 
carry through mistake or wilful intent ; it may sometimes trem- 
ble under the assaults of its enemies or languish under the 
misguided zeal of impractical friends ; but if the people of 
this country ever submit to the banishment of its underlying 
principle from the operation of their government, they will 
abandon the surest guarantee of the safety and success of 
American institutions. ... 

CONCLUSION. 

In conclusion, I earnestly invoke such wise action on the 
part of the people's legislators as will subserve the public good 
and demonstrate during the remaining days of the Congress as 
at present organized its ability and inclination to so meet the 
people's needs that it shall be gratefully remembered by an ex- 
pectant constituency. Grover Cleveland. 

Washington, December 6, 1SS6. 

We have in the preceding pages attempted to 
give some account of the man in whose hands are 
held to a large extent the welfare of this nation. 
We have shown that from his early life, and through 



G ROVER CLEVELAND AS PRESIDENT. IO i 

his occupation of the offices of mayor, Governor, and 
President, he has been thoroughly consistent. While 
holding the latter high position, he has simply am- 
plified, in carrying out, the same rules of government 
which he set forth as mayor and Governor. In all 
his messages there is the same clear ring : We, the 
officers of the government of the United States, are 
placed in power for the good of our country ; let the 
result of our administration prove to the world our 
ability as Democrats to secure the best welfare of 
our fellow-citizens in our management of the great 
trust committed to our charge. Mr. Cleveland's great 
popularity is largely due to the fact that he is always 
perfectly candid. He impresses the people as a 
truthful, practical man, who devotes himself con- 
scientiously to the discharge of his duties ; also as a 
man of moral courage, who when he believes it is 
right and just to veto an obnoxious bill does not 
hesitate to do it. All these facts have led to the 
unanimous renomination of Grover Cleveland by 
the Democratic party, an incident without precedent 
in the history of the country. The principle which 
he represents is the honest conduct of the public 
business, and that principle has been conscientiously 
carried out through the administration now drawing 
to a close, so far as the position of the President has 
permitted him to act. The record of this administra- 
tion is open to the people, and, so far as possible in 
the space allotted, we have endeavored to show that 
the President has been thoroughly supported by a 
cabinet in whose official position there has been but 
little change during his administration. 




7 \-tft** ^c 



{Jc-^i^jl- CO 



CHAPTER V. 



THE STATE DEPARTMENT. 

All correspondence with the public ministers and 
consuls of the United States, all correspondence 
with the representatives of foreign powers accredit- 
ed to the United States, and negotiations relat- 
ing to the foreign affairs of the United States, 
must pass through the hands of the Secretary of 
State. He is also the medium of correspondence 
between the President and the chief executive 
of the several States of the United States. To 
him is confided the custody of the great seal of 
the United States, and he countersigns and affixes 
such seal to all executive proclamations, to com- 
missions, and to warrants for pardon and the 
extradition of fugitives from justice. He stands first 
in rank among the members of the Cabinet. He 
is, beside, the custodian of the treaties made with 
foreign States and of the laws of the United 
States. It is his privilege to grant and issue 
passports, and exequaturs to foreign consuls in 
the United States. He publishes the laws and reso- 
lutions of Congress, amendments to the Constitu- 

J °3 



104 THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET. 

tion, and proclamations declaring the admission 
of new States into the Union. It is further his 
duty to publish certain annual reports to Congress 
relating to commercial information received from 
diplomatic and consular officers of the United 
States. Indeed, his position in the Cabinet is very- 
important and responsible. 

THE SECRETARY OF STATE. 
Thomas F. Bayard 

creditably and honorably fills the high post of Sec- 
retary of Sate. 

The Bayard family have been residents in this 
country for over two hundred years, and trace 
their descent from the same family as that of 
Chevalier Bayard, the knight "sans peur et sans 
reproche." Peter Bayard, the direct ancestor of the 
Secretary of State, settled in what is now known 
as the State of Maryland, where he purchased some 
25,000 acres. John Bayard, grandson of Peter, took 
an active part in the Revolutionary war, serving as 
colonel of cavalry. The historian Bancroft refers 
to him as " a patriot of singular purity of character 
and disinterestedness." He was later a member of 
the Continental Congress. 

Richard Bassett, the great grandfather of our 
present Secretary of State, was an active patriot of 
the Revolution, and was a delegate to the conven- 
tion that framed the Federal Constitution, besides 



THE STATE DEPARTMENT. 105 

being the first Senator elected to Congress from 
the State of Delaware. He resigned his seat in the 
Senate in 1792. 

James Ashton Bayard, son of John, was grand- 
father to Thomas F. Bayard, and with him began 
the senatorial line of the family name in Congress. 
He was the acknowledged leader of the old Fed- 
eral party, and was offered the missions to both 
France and Russia, but declined. He, however, 
served as joint commissioner with Clay, Gallatin, 
Adams, and Russell in negotiating the treaty of 
Ghent. 

Richard H. Bayard was chosen United States 
Senator in 1836. James Ashton Bayard repre- 
sented Delaware in the Senate from 1851 to 1864, 
and retired in 1869, when he was succeeded by his 
son, the subject of our sketch. 

Thomas F. Bayard was born at Wilmington, 
Del, October 29, 1828; was educated at the 
Flushing school, established by Rev. Mr. F. L. 
Hawks. His early training was in the direction of 
a mercantile life ; but he preferred and studied 
the profession of the law, and was admitted to the 
bar in 185 1. With the exception of two years in 
Philadelphia, Mr. Bayard practised his profession 
in his native city. In 1853, he was appointed 
United States district attorney for the State of 
Delaware, but resigned in 1854. He was elected 
United States Senator from Delaware for the 



106 THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET. 

term commencing in 1869 and ending in 1S75, 
serving on the important committees on Finance, 
Judiciary, Private Land Claims, and that on the Re- 
vision of Laws, and was a member of the Electoral 
Commission of 1877. On the same day of his elec- 
tion his father, James A. Bayard, was also re-elected 
to the Senate from the same State, to fill an unexpired 
term, the first and only instance recorded of father 
and son both occupying seats in that august body. 
Mr. Bayard was re-elected in 1875, and again in 
1881, and was appointed Secretary of State by Mr. 
Cleveland in 1SS5. He was Senator from Dela- 
ware for sixteen years, being the oldest in contin- 
uous service of the Democratic Senators. He was 
chosen President of the Senate, pro tempore, Oct. 
10, 1SS1. 

Mr. Bayard is a man whose public and pri- 
vate record is of the purest and most honorable 
character. As a public speaker, he is always 
listened to with the greatest respect and interest. 
He had achieved a reputation as a sound and re- 
liable financial authority, prior to assuming the 
chair of the State Department The result of his 
administration of the State Department will be 
best understood from a perusal of the following 
facts, which are also indicative of that complete 
success in connection with our foreign relations 
which is so clearly shown in all other Departments 
of the Government under the present Administra- 
tion. 



THE STATE DEPARTMENT. 



107 



The State Department is recognized as the 
first among the different departments, and the 
Secretary of State, in his position as Premier of the 
Administration, enjoys prerogatives not common to 
other members of the Cabinet, and is charged with 
special duties of an official, ceremonial and social 
nature. He greets, in the name of the President, a 
member of a Royal family or Ruler of a foreign 
State visiting the capital. Is present during his call 
of etiquette and attends the President in returning 
the visit. He arranges the audiences accorded 
Diplomatic Ministers in presenting their creden- 
tials or taking leave. 

The special work of the State Department, 
under the able administration of the present Secre- 
tary and during the past three years and a half, has 
been to secure through proper diplomatic measures 
a continuance of friendly relations with all foreign 
Governments ; to carefully guard the citizenship of 
all native born or naturalized citizens, in whatever 
part of the world they may be ; to maintain our 
rights whenever attacked, as far as they are known 
to be just and based upon international law. Under 
the present Administration, our treaty with the 
Empire of China has been completed to the satis- 
faction of all concerned; and while doing justice to 
all honorable claims on the part of the great Gov- 
ernment of the West, at the same time the com- 
plaints of our fellow-citizens have been fairly 



108 THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET. 

considered, and the result obtained through the 
work of the State Department is considered most 
creditable. The Fisheries Treaty, as it is commonly 
called, is the result of the meeting of Commis- 
sioners from Great Britain and the United States, 
who, after fairly and carefully considering all ques- 
tions before them, mutually agreed upon a treaty 
which is now before the United States Senate for 
confirmation. As much curiosity has been expressed 
regarding this document, it has been thought best 
to publish the views of the President upon 
the subject, as indicated in his Message to the 
Senate, from which the injunction of secrecy has 
recently been removed and which we now print in 
full. 

Message from the President of the United States, trans- 
mitting a Treaty between the United States and Great 
Britain concerning the Interpretation of the Conven- 
tion of October 20, 18 18, signed at Washington, Febru- 
ary 15, 1888. 
To the Senate of the United States : 

In my annual message transmitted to the Congress in Decem- 
ber, 1886, it was stated that negotiations were then pending for 
the settlement of the questions growing out of the rights claimed 
by American fishermen in British North American waters. 

As a result of such negotiations, a treaty has been agreed 
upon between her Britannic Majesty and the United States, 
concluded and signed in this capital, under my direction and 
authority, on the 15th of February instant, and which I now 
have the honor to submit to the Senate, with the recommenda- 
tion that it shall receive the consent of that body, as provided 
in the Constitution, in order that the ratifications thereof may 
be duly exchanged and the treaty be carried into effect. 



THE STATE DEPARTMENT. 



109 



Shortly after Congress had adjourned in March last, and in 
continuation of my efforts to arrive at such an agreement between 
the Governments of Great Britain and the United States as would 
secure to the citizens of the respective countries the unmolested 
enjoyment of their just rights under existing treaties and inter- 
national comity in the territorial waters of Canada and of New- 
foundland, I availed myself of opportune occurrences indicative 
of a desire to make without delay an amicable and final settle- 
ment of a long-standing controversy — productive of much 
irritation and misunderstanding between the two nations — to 
send through our minister in London proposals that a confer- 
ence should take place on the subject at this capital. 

The experience of the past two years had demonstrated the 
dilatory and unsatisfactory consequences of our indirect tran- 
saction of business through the foreign office in London, in 
which the views and wishes of the Government of the Dominion 
of Canada were practically predominant, but were only to find 
expression at second hand. 

To obviate this inconvenience and obstruction to prompt and 
well-defined settlement, it was considered advisable that the 
negotiations should be conducted in this city, and that the inter- 
ests of Canada and Newfoundland should be directly represented 
therein. 

The terms of reference having been duly agreed upon between 
the two Governments, and the conference arranged to be held 
here, by virtue of the power in me vested by the Constitution, I 
duly authorized Thomas F. Bayard, the Secretary of State of 
the United States, William L. Putnam, a citizen of the State of 
Maine, and James B. Angell, a citizen of the State of Michigan, 
for and in the name of the United States, to meet and confer 
with the plenipotentiaries representing the Government of her 
Britannic Majesty, for the purpose of considering and adjusting 
in a friendly spirit all or any questions relating to rights of fishery 
in the seas adjacent to British North America and Newfoundland 
which were in dispute between the Governments of the United 
States and that of her Britannic Majesty, and jointly and sever- 
ally to conclude and sign any treaty or treaties touching the 
premises ; and I herewith transmit for your information full 
copies of the power so given by me. 

In execution of the powers so conveyed, the said Thomas F. 
Bayard, William L. Putnam, and James B. Angell, in the month 
of November last, met in this city the plenipotentiaries of her 



IIO THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET. 

Britannic Majesty, and proceeded in the negotiation of a treaty 
as above authorized. After many conferences and protracted 
efforts an agreement has at length been arrived at, which is em- 
bodied in the treaty which I now lay before you. 

The treaty meets my approval, because I believe that it sup- 
plies a satisfactory, practical, and final adjustment, upon a basis 
honorable and just to both parties, of the difficult and vexed 
question to which it relates. 

A review of the history of this question will show that all 
former attempts to arrive at a common interpretation, satisfac- 
tory to both parties, of the first article of the treaty of October 
20, 1818, have been unsuccessful; and with the lapse of time 
the difficulty and obscurity have only increased. 

The negotiations in 1854, and again in 187 1, ended in both 
cases in temporary reciprocal arrangements of the tariffs of 
Canada and Newfoundland and of the United States, and the 
payment of a money award by the United States, under which 
the real questions in difference remained unsettled, in abeyance, 
and ready to present themselves anew just so soon as the con- 
ventional arrangements were abrogated. 

The situation, therefore, remained unimproved by the results 
of the treaty of 187 1, and a grave condition of affairs, presenting 
almost identically the same features and causes of complaint by 
the United States against Canadian action and British default 
in its correction, confronted us in May, 1886, and has continued 
until the present time. 

The greater part of the correspondence which has taken place 
between the two governments has heretofore been communicated 
to Congress, and at as early a day as possible I shall transmit 
the remaining portion to this date, accompanying it with the 
joint protocols of the conferences which resulted in the conclu- 
sion of the treaty now submitted to you. 

You will thus be fully possessed of the record and history of 
the case since the termination, on June 30, 1885, of the fishery- 
articles of the Treaty of Washington of 187 1, whereby we were 
relegated to the provisions of the treaty of October 20, 1818. 

As the documents and papers referred to will supply full in- 
formation of the positions taken under my administration by the 
representatives of the United States, as well as those occupied 
by the representatives of the Government of Great Britain, it is 
not considered necessary or expedient to repeat them in this 
message. But I believe the treaty will be found to contain a 



THE STATE DEPARTMENT. In 

just, honorable, and. therefore, satisfactory solution of the diffi- 
culties which have clouded our relations with our neighbors on 
our northern border. 

Especially satisfactory do I believe the proposed arrangement 
will be found by those of our citizens who are engaged in the 
open sea fisheries, adjacent to the Canadian coast, and resorting 
to those ports and harbors under treaty provisions and rules of 
international law. 

The proposed delimitation of the lines of the exclusive fish- 
eries from the common fisheries will give certainty and security 
as to the area of their legitimate field ; the headland theory of 
imaginary lines is abandoned by Great Britain, and the specifi- 
cation in the treaty of certain named bays especially provided 
for gives satisfaction to the inhabitants of the shores, without 
subtracting materially from the value or convenience of the 
fishery rights of Americans. 

The uninterrupted navigation of the Strait of Canso is ex- 
pressly and for the first time affirmed, and the four purposes for 
which our fishermen under the treaty of 1818 were allowed to 
enter the bays and harbors of Canada and Newfoundland with- 
in the belt of 3 marine miles are placed under a fair and liberal 
construction, and their enjoyment secured without such condi- 
tions and restrictions as in the past have embarrassed and ob- 
structed them so seriously. 

The enforcement of penalties for unlawfully fishing or pre- 
paring to fish within the inshore and exclusive waters of Canada 
and Newfoundland is to be accomplished under safe-guards 
against oppressive or arbitrary action, thus protecting the defend- 
ant fishermen from punishment in advance of trial, delays, and 
inconvenience and unnecessary expense. 

The history of events in the last two years shows that no 
feature of Canadian administration was more harassing and in- 
jurious than the compulsion upon our fishing vessels to make 
formal entry and clearance on every occasion of temporarily 
seeking shelter in Canadian ports and harbors. 

Such inconvenience is provided against in the proposed treaty, 
and this most frequent and just cause of complaint is removed. 

The articles permitting our fishermen to obtain provisions and 
the ordinary supplies of trading vessels on their homeward 
voyages, and under which they are accorded the -further and 
even more important privilege on all occasions of purchasing 
such casual or needful provisions and supplies as are ordinarily 
granted to trading vessels, are of great importance and value. 



112 THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET. 

The licenses which are to be granted without charge and on ap- 
plication, in order to enable our fishermen to enjoy these privi- 
leges, are reasonable and proper checks in the hands of the 
local authorities to identify the recipients and prevent abuse, 
and can form no impediment to those who intend to use them 
fairly. 

The hospitality secured for our vessels in all cases of actual 
distress, with liberty to unload and sell and transship their 
cargoes, is full and liberal. 

These provisions will secure the substantial enjoyment of the 
treaty rights for our fishermen under the treaty of 1818, for 
which contention has been steadily made in the correspondence 
of the Department of State, and our minister at London, and by 
the American negotiators of the present treaty. 

The right of our fishermen under the treaty of 1818 did not 
extend to the procurement of distinctive fishery supplies in 
Canadian ports and harbors; and one item supposed to be es- 
sential, to wit, bait, was plainly denied them by the explicit and 
definite words of the treaty of 1818, emphasized by the course 
of the negotiation and express decisions which preceded the 
conclusion of that treaty. 

The treaty now submitted contains no provision affecting 
tariff duties, and, independently of the position assumed upon 
the part of the United States that no alteration in our tariff or 
other domestic legislation could be made as the price or consid- 
eration of obtaining the rights of our citizens secured by treaty, 
it was considered more expedient to allow any change in the 
revenue laws of the United States to be made by the ordinary 
exercise of legislative will, and in promotion of the public 
interests. Therefore, the addition to the free list of fish, fish- 
oil, whale and seal oil, etc., recited in the last article of the 
treaty, is wholly left to the action of Congress ; and in connec- 
tion therewith the Canadian and Newfoundland right to regulate 
sales of bait and other fishing supplies within their own juris- 
diction is recognized, and the right of our fishermen to freely 
purchase these things is made contingent, by this treaty, upon 
the action of Congress in the modification of our tariff laws. 

Our social and commercial intercourse with those populations 
who have been placed upon our borders and made forever our 
neighbors ismade apparent by a list of United States common 
carriers, marine and inland, connecting their lines with Canada, 
which was returned by the Secretary of the Treasury to the 



THE STATE DEPARTMENT. U3 

Senate on the 7th day of February, 18S8, in answer to a resolu- 
tion of that body ; and this is instructive as to the great volume 
of mutually profitable interchanges which has come into existence 
during the last half century. 

This intercourse is still but partially developed, and if the 
amicable enterprise and wholesome rivalry between the two 
populations be not obstructed, the promise of the future is full 
of the fruits of an unbounded prosperity on both sides of the 
border. 

The treaty now submitted to you has been framed in a spirit 
of liberal equity and reciprocal benefits, in the conviction that 
mutual advantage and convenience are the only permanent 
foundation of peace and friendship between States, and that 
with the adoption of the agreement now placed before the 
Senate, a beneficial and satisfactory intercourse between the 
two countries will be established so as to secure perpetual peace 
and harmony. 

In connection with the treaty herewith submitted I deem it 
also my duty to transmit to the Senate a written offer or arrange- 
ment, in the nature of a modus vivendi, tendered after the con- 
clusion of the treaty on the part of the British plenipotentiaries, 
to secure kindly and peaceful relations during the period that 
may be required for the consideration of the treaty by the re- 
spective Governments and for the enactmemt of the necessary 
legislation to carry its provisions into effect if approved. 

This paper, freely and on their own motion, signed by the 
British conferees, not only extends advantages to our fishermen, 
pending the ratification of the treaty, but appears to have been 
dictated by a friendly and amicable spirit. 

I am given to understand that the other governments con- 
cerned in this treaty will, within a few days, in accordance with 
their methods of conducting public business, submit said treaty 
to their respective legislatures, when it will be at once published 
to the world. In view of such action it appears to be advisable 
that, by publication here, early and full knowledge of all that 
has been done in the premises should be afforded to our 
people. 

It would also seem to be useful to inform the popular mind 
concerning the history of the long continued disputes growing 
out of the subject embraced in the treaty and to satisfy the 
public interests touching the same, as well as to acquaint our 
people with the present status of the quebtions involved, and to 



114 TIIE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET. 

give them the exact terms of the proposed adjustment, in place 
of the exaggerated and imaginative statements which will other- 
wise reach them. 

I therefore beg leave respectfully to suggest that said treaty 
and all such correspondence, messages, and documents relating 
to the same as may be deemed important to accomplish these 
purposes be at once made public by the order of your honorable 
body. 

GROVER CLEVELAND. 

Executive Mansion, 

February 20, 1888. 

We are confident that upon the careful read- 
ing of the preceding document every sensible man 
will acknowledge, that the rights of our fishermen 
are carefully preserved, and that the attacks of 
partisan politicians upon an honorable decision, 
arrived at by the combined judgment of able and 
experienced men, are totally unwarranted, and it 
is to be hoped that the usually clear-sightedness 
of United States Senators will recognize the facts 
in the case and that they govern themselves ac- 
cordingly. It is a matter for grave consideration 
and thankfulness on the part of every American 
citizen, that through the able management of the 
State Department, under its present head, that 
this nation has been preserved from war and 
the rumors of war, which, had it been under the con- 
trol of a less conservative man, might have led this 
country into a conflict which we are not prepared 
to meet. This Administration is one of peace, and 
the experience of the past four years is sufficient 
to make us all look forward with confidence to a 
continuance of such management as will leave our 
people time to do justice to their agricultural, man- 
ufacturing, mercantile, and commercial pursuits. 



THE ST A TE DEPAR TMENT. I I 5 

Our present relations with all the world are satis- 
factory and the United States to-day holds a posi- 
tion which should make every American citizen 
thank God for the advantages which he enjoys. 

As arbitrator of difficulties between other nations 
the aid of the President has been secured, and 
through the action of the State Department these 
decisions have been rendered to the satisfaction of 
the contending parties. The great value and impor- 
tance of our consular system, in its connection with 
the sfi'owth of our manufactures and the increase 
of trade and commerce by the introduction of new 
channels, has been fully recognized by the present 
Secretary of the State Department, not only by pre- 
senting to Congress the absolute need of a more 
satisfactory system of payment for the work done, 
but also in supplying the public with weekly instal- 
ments of information from our consuls in all parts 
of the world. These reports being regularly sup- 
plied to the press become public property and are 
at once utilized when available to the general ad- 
vantage of the public. 

The business of the State Department is kept 
thoroughly in hand, each bureau completing its 
work daily, and at the present time there is no ac- 
cumulated work. This is due to the management 
adopted by the Secretary and the persevering labors 
of those employed. In the organization and syste- 
matized work of the State Department will be 
found additional evidence that the present Adminis- 
tration is established on a business basis. 




C. 5. 7 



CHAPTER VI. 

THE TREASURY DEPARTMENT. 

The Secretary of the Treasury is charged by 
law with the management of the national finances. 
He prepares plans for the improvement of the rev- 
enue and for the support of the public credit ; sup- 
erintends the collection of the revenue, and pre- 
scribes the forms of keeping and rendering public 
accounts and of making returns ; grants warrants 
for all moneys drawn from the Treasury in pursu- 
ance of appropriations made by law, and for the 
payment of moneys into the Treasury; and annu- 
ally submits to Congress estimates of the probable 
revenues and disbursements of the Government. 
He also controls the construction of public build- 
ings ; the coinage and printing of money ; the col- 
lection of statistics ; the administration of the 
coast and geodetic survey ; life-saving, light-house, 
revenue-cutter, steamboat inspection, and marine- 
hospital branches of the public service ; and fur- 
nishes generally such information as may be re- 
quired by either branch of Congress on all matters 
pertaining to the foregoing. 

"7 



Il8 THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET. 

The routine work of the Secretary's office is tran- 
sacted in the offices of the Supervising Architect, Di- 
rector of the Mint, Superintendent of Engraving and 
Printing, Supervising Surgeon-General of Marine 
Hospitals, General Superintendent of Life-Saving 
Service, Supervising Inspector-General of Steam- 
boats, Bureau of Statistics, Light-House Board, and 
in the following divisions : Warrants, Estimates, 
and Appropriations ; Appointments ; Customs ; 
Public Moneys ; Loans and Currency ; Mercantile 
Marine and Internal Revenue ; Revenue-Marine ; 
Stationery, Printing, and Blanks ; Captured Prop- 
erty, Claims, and Lands; Mails and Files, and Spe- 
cial Agents. 

THE SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY. 
Charles S. Fairchild. 

Sidney T. Fairchild, the father of the present 
Secretary of the Treasury, is known as one of the 
most distinguished lawyers of Central New York. 
He was for many years leading counsel for the New 
York Central Railroad Company. Charles S. Fair- 
child was born at Cazenovia, Madison County, New 
York, April 30, 1842. He received his elementary 
education at the Methodist seminary in that town, 
from which he graduated in 1850. He immediately 
entered Harvard College, where he graduated in 
1863, and afterwards graduated from the Law 
School in 1865. Having completed his collegiate 



THE TREASURY DEPARTMENT. 



II 9 



and legal education, he became junior member of 
the law firm of Hand, Hale, Schwartz & Fairchild, 
in Albany, one of the leading firms in the State of 
New York. In 186S he began his political career 
by organizing the Democratic party of his native 
county, as chairman of its committee, in support 
of Horatio Seymour for President, Mr. Fairchild 
running for the State Senate himself. In 1874, he 
was appointed Deputy Attorney General by the 
Hon. Daniel Pratt, and in that important office was 
concerned in many famous cases, especially in rela- 
tion to the removal of the police commissioners of 
the city of New York, when he was opposed by the 
leading counsel of the State and city, but succeeded 
in his efforts to secure for New York city the 
purity of elections. 

During the Canal Ring investigations in New 
York, Mr. Fairchild was closely associated with 
Samuel J. Tilden, who had great confidence in his 
judgment and abilities and always favored his politi- 
cal advancement. He is sound on financial ques- 
tions and supports the Administration in its position 
in connection with silver, and tariff reform. 

As a recognition of his ability he was nominated 
and elected Attorney General in 1876. Having 
served out his term he spent two years in Europe. 
He was President of the Charities Aid Association 
of the State and Vice-President of the Charity 
Organization Society of the City of New York. 



120 THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET. 

City, where he remained until invited to the second 
place in the administration of the Treasury Depart- 
ment by Secretary Manning. Mr. Fairchild be- 
came Secretary of the Treasury by appointment 
of the President in 1887. 

Secretary Fairchild is a man of quick percep- 
tions and an analytical mind. He is one of the 
seven youngest persons who have filled the post of 
Secretary of the Treasury. The youngest was 
Alexander Hamilton, Washington's first secretary, 
who was thirty-two; Wolcott, the second, was thirty- 
five ; Dexter and Gallatin, third and fourth, were 
forty ; Brewster was forty-one ; Crawford and Fair- 
child were each forty-four. 

In his management of the Treasury Department, 
Mr. Fairchild has secured the confidence of both 
the Government and the people ; and the important 
results of his careful and conscientious labor as 
herewith given will prove that he is fully entitled 
to the great confidence thus secured. 



THE TREASURY DEPARTMENT. 121 

The most important work of this department 
obviously consists of the collection of the revenues, 
and the management of the national finances. 

In the matter of the collection of the revenue, 
which is mainly derived from receipts for customs 
dues and from internal taxes, it will be seen, from 
an examination of the records and reports of the 
department, that there has been a steady and 
decided increase of revenue, and a steady and 
decided decrease of the cost of collection, under the 
present Administration. The fiscal year ends on 
the thirtieth day of June, and the present year, 
therefore, completes three full fiscal years of this 
administration of the department ; and beginning 
with the fiscal year 1884, which was the first year 
after the tariff law of 1883 went into effect, it will 
be found that the receipts from customs for that 
year were, in round numbers, one hundred and 
ninety-five millions of dollars; for 1885, one hundred 
and eighty one millions of dollars; for 1886, one 
hundred and ninety-three millions of dollars, — being 
the first year of this administration, — an increase of 
twelve millions of dollars; and in 1887 they were 
two hundred and seventeen millions of dollars, a 
further increase of twenty-five millions ; and for 
1888, two hundred and twenty millions of dollars, 
a further increase of three millions, making a total 
increase during the three years of over forty millions 
of dollars; while the cost of collection for 1884 was 
.0344 per cent; 1885, .0377 per cent; 1886, .0330 
per cent; 1887, .0316 per cent; 1888, .0298 per 
cent. 

The same results are shown in the receipts from 
internal revenue, and the expenditures in that branch 



122 THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET. 

of the service : the collections for the fiscal year 
1885, being-, in round numbers, one hundred and 
twelve millions; 1886, one hundred and seventeen 
millions; 1887, one hundred and nineteen millions; 
1888, one hundred and twenty-five millions, a total 
increase of thirteen millions of dollars ; while the 
cost of collection has decreased from .03963 per 
cent for 1885 to .0302 per cent in 1888. This has 
been accomplished notwithstanding that the work 
of collecting the tax upon oleomargarine, and the 
enforcement of the law against the illicit production 
and traffic in that article, have, during this period, 
been devolved upon the Internal Revenue Bureau. 

In both the customs and internal revenue service, 
great vigilance has been displayed in the detection 
and suppression of frauds upon the revenue. In 
the customs department especial attention has been 
given to the subject of undervaluations, which had 
grown to be so great an abuse that loud complaints 
were constantly made by the domestic manufacturer 
and the honest importer, that their business was 
seriously imperilled in consequence of it. The 
result has been that this abuse has been practically 
eradicated, and save in rare instances are complaints 
now made either to the department or in the public 
press upon that account. Greater promptness in 
the transaction of customs business has also been 
secured. Two-thirds of the revenue from customs 
are collected at the port of New York ; and two 
years ago the work of the Liquidating Division at 
that port was over two years behind, and the 
Division of Protests and Appeals was equally in 
arrears ; but at the present time the work of both 
divisions has been so far advanced, that, by the end 



THE TREASURY DEPARTMENT. 123 

of this calender year, all arrears of business will have 
been disposed of, and die work will be up to current 
date. 

In the matter of the management of the national 
finances a brief review of some of the difficulties 
which had to be encountered, and of the dangers 
which threatened the country, and of the manner 
in which they have been avoided and averted, will 
satisfy every candid and impartial mind that this 
branch of the public service was never more ably or 
more faithfully administered. 

On the 30th of June, 18S7, the surplus in the 
Treasury, according to the Treasurer's statement of 
assets and liabilities, was $45,698,594.15. The 
expenditures, actual and estimated, including the 
sinking-fund, for the fiscal year 1888 were $316,- 
8 1 7,785.48 ; and the revenues of the Government for 
the same period, under existing tariff and revenue 
laws, were estimated to be approximately $383,000,- 
000. Thus an addition to the surplus during the 
fiscal year of $66,182,214.52 was expected, making 
the total surplus on the 30th of June, 1888, $111,- 
880,808.67. This was the situation as it appeared 
one year ago. It will be seen from what follows 
that the estimate was far below the reality. 

Early in August, 1887, it became apparent that 
the rapid accumulation of money in the Treasury, 
which had already created a feeling of great anxiety 
and uneasiness in business centres, would soon 
cause severe stringency in the money markets. The 
time was approaching when the annual shipments 
of money to the West for the purpose of moving 
the crops would deplete the reserves in the great 
cities. This depletion, which in good crop years is 



124 THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET. 

always great enough to increase the loaning rate to 
seven per cent and upward, threatened to be so great 
as to cripple the movement of money so necessary to 
the welfare of the country, particularly of the great 
grain-raising sections of the West; and the constantly 
increasing surplus in the Treasury was daily adding 
to the gravity of the situation. At this juncture 
the Secretary of the Treasury wisely determined, 
that, instead of distributing the purchases for the 
sinking-fund over the whole fiscal year as he would 
do in ordinary circumstances, he would invest the 
entire amount (nearly twenty-eight millions) at 
once, or as rapidly as possible; hoping thereby to so 
far relieve the impending distress as to tide over the 
period of moving the crops, and so prevent business 
disturbances during that critical time. To this end 
he published the circular of August, 1887, and later 
the circular of September, 1887, for the purchase of 
bonds for the sinking-fund. The first circular pro- 
posed to receive offers weekly, at prices to be named 
by the owners ; and when all which were offered at 
fair prices had been obtained by that method, the 
second circular was published, fixing a price at which 
they would be received. Under these two circulars 
the Secretary purchased $24,844,650 bonds at a cost 
of $27,842,237.10. No comment is needed to 
emphasize the importance and vast benefit of this 
operation. The Secretary placed in the hands of 
the people nearly twenty-eight millions of money 
with which to carry on the most important business 
transactions of the year. The wisdom and success 
of this measure is best shown by the fact, that, 
throughout the period when the greatest trouble has 
heretofore occurred, not the slightest disturbance of 



THE TREASURY DEPARTMENT. 125 

business was recorded, and the average rate paid for 
money on call in New York, the great banking 
centre of the country, was never lower. 

Upon completing the purchase of bonds for the 
sinking-fund, the question of disposing of the further 
additions to the surplus was carefully considered. 
The authority to purchase bonds in addition to the 
sinking-fund requirements was not considered to be 
so clear and unequivocal as to justify the Secretary 
in making purchases. 

The authority, such as it was, was contained in a 
paragraph in the Legislative Appropriation Bill, 
approved March 3, 1881 ; and, after a careful survey 
of all the circumstances, it was decided that doubt 
existed, and that all other lawful means should first 
be exhausted before resorting to other purchases. 
The only resource left appeared to be in the Secre- 
tary's authority to use national banks as depositories 
of public money. Prior to this time, the deposits in 
national banks had been somewhat restricted by 
the unprofitable nature of the terms offered to the 
banks. They were limited to a deposit of 90 per 
cent of the par value of the bonds deposited by 
them as security, so that from 18 to 36 per cent of 
the value of the bonds was practically locked up. 
In view of the high premium which these bonds 
commanded as an investment, it was decided to allow 
a deposit of the par value of 4^ per cent bonds held 
as security, and a deposit of 1 10 per cent against 4 
per cent bonds held. The result is best shown by 
the following statement : — 

On the 1st of July, 1885, there were 141 national 
banks whose designations as depositories were in 
force, and the deposits of public moneys in their 



126 THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET 

hands amounted to $12,928,264.47. On the 1st of 
July, 1888, there were 294 banks holding public 
deposits of $59,979,039.63. This is an increase of 
153 banks, and an increase of deposits in their hands 
of $47,050,775.16. In other words, there are more 
than twice as many banks now acting as depositories 
as there were three years ago, and they hold nearly 
five times as much public money as they did three 
years ago. This great sum of $47,000,000 is now 
in the hands of the people as the result of the wise 
and liberal policy of the Secretary, instead of re- 
maining locked up in the Treasury as it would have 
remained under the policy formerly in operation ; 
and the security held for the safe return to the 
Treasury of the money deposited is at all times 
ample, for the 4^ per cent bonds held by the Treas- 
ury have at all times been worth at least 7 per 
cent more than the deposit, and the 4 per cent at 
least 15 per cent more. Either class of bonds can 
be sold at a day's notice, so that no possible contin- 
gency could result in loss to the Government. The 
efforts of the Secretary to keep down the surplus in 
the Treasury were effectual during the fall and early 
winter, but the time soon came when something 
more must be done; for the surplus continued to 
grow, and the measures which had been so effective 
earlier in the fiscal year were now inoperative, from 
causes which were clearly foreseen, and to which the 
present Secretary and his able predecessor, Mr. 
Manning, had repeatedly called the attention of 
Congress without avail. The absorption of public 
moneys by the depository banks had reached its 
limit, and the sinking-fund requirements had been 
supplied ; so that nothing remained to be done but 



THE TREASURY DEPARTMENT. \2J 

to await the action of Congress. There had been 
discussion of the subject in both houses, but no 
material progress towards a settlement of the ques- 
tian had been made. In April, however, the House 
passed a resolution declaratory of its judgment that 
the clause in the appropriation bill of March 3, 1881, 
was still in force; and a similar resolution was passed 
a few days later in the Senate. The sanction of 
Congress having thus been practically given to the 
policy of purchasing unmatured obligations at a 
premium, the Secretary promptly on the day after 
the passage of the Senate resolution published a 
circular, dated April 1 7, 1888, inviting daily offerings 
of bonds to the Government. This circular, like 
those which preceded it in August and September, 
1887, invited the people to deal directly with the 
Government in selling their bonds, being a marked 
departure from the policy of former Administrations 
in this respect. All previous purchases had been 
made through the sub-treasury in New York, and a 
deposit as a guaranty of good faith was required. 
This restriction placed the business of selling bonds 
to the Government exclusively in the hands of the 
professional dealers in securities, and consequently 
placed individual holders at their mercy. Under 
the present system, the humblest citizen of the 
United States, owner of a bond for fifty dollars, 
can deal directly with the Government ; and his 
proposal for the sale of his bond receives from the 
Secretary the same consideration, and if his bond 
is accepted the same prompt payment, as that 
accorded the dealer who sells his millions at a time. 
Under this circular of April 17, 1888, the Secretary 
had purchased up to June 30, 1888, $18,383,800 



128 THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET 

4 per cent bonds at a cost of $23,347,744.20, and 
$S>393>°5° 42 per cent at a cost of $9,039,056.20, 
making a total disbursement on acccount of pur- 
chase of $32,386,800.40. 

The bonds so purchased, it should be remem- 
bered, were not redeemable ; the 4^ per cents 
being payable after September, 1891, and the 4 per 
cents not until after July 1, 1907. 

The amount, therefore, which the Government 
would pay in interest and principal on the bonds if 
outstanding till maturity would be for the 4^ per 
cents $9,705,158.31, and for the 4 per cents $32,- 
539,326, making a total of $42,244,484.31. The 
difference between this amount and the amount 
actually paid results in a direct saving to the Gov- 
ernment of $9,857,683.91, which, added to savings 
in 1887 of $4,832,668.62, makes a total saving of 
$14,790,352.03 ; so that at the same time that the 
Secretary of the Treasury was relieving the people 
by disbursing the money they so badly needed, he 
was saving to them nearly $1^5,000,000, and mak- 
ing possible a still further reduction of taxation to 
that amount. 

But, notwithstanding the utmost endeavors of 
the Secretary to diminish the surplus, statements 
published at the close of the fiscal year 1888 show 
that it is larger than at the commencement of the 
purchases in August, 1887. According to the state- 
ments of assets and liabilities for Aug. 1, 1887, the 
surplus was then $45,698,594.15; and on July 1, 
1888, it was $103,220,464.71, which is an increase of 
$57,521,870.56, notwithstanding the purchase during 
the interval of United States bonds costing over 
$32,000,000, in addition to those purchased in 



THE TREASURY DEPARTMENT. 



129 



Alienist for the sinkingf-fund, and which were 
included in the estimated expenditures for the fiscal 
year. 

At the bccrinninof of this statement it was shown 
that the estimates made on June 20, 1887, for the 
ensuing fiscal year indicated a probable surplus of 
$1 1 1,880,808.67 during the year. The actual surplus 
was $135,607,265.11, consisting of $103,220,464.71 
still in the Treasury, and $32,386,800.40 paid for 
bonds purchased. This is an increase over the 
estimate of $23,726,456.44. 

There has prevailed the belief that the accumula- 
tion of the surplus revenues in the Treasury, and the 
retirement of national bank notes by banks reducing 
circulation, must result in contraction of the circu- 
lation of the country. So far the wise, prudent, and 
skilful management of the Government finances by 
the Secretary of the Treasury has averted all trouble 
from this source. Indeed, the amount of money in 
circulation among the people to-day is greater than 
it was two years ago. The total circulation Jan. 
1, 1886, was $1,285,173,012 ; while the amount 
June 30, 1888, was $1,372,627,868, an increase of 
$87,454,856. _ 

The following table shows how this increase is 
effected. 

Changes. 



Gold Coin 
Silver Dollars . 
Subsidiary Coin 
Gold Certificates 
Silver Certificates 
United States Notes 
National Bank Notes 



Increase. 

#38,625,381 

3> 28 7,73 2 

3> 2 °7,37 2 

i4,5 2 7>769 

107,207,91 1 



Decrease. 



$10,042,004 
69.359.305 



$166,856,165 $79,401,309 



130 THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET 

At the time the present Administration assumed 
the charge of the Treasury Department, very grave 
apprehensions were entertained by eminent finan- 
ciers, that gold and silver could not be maintained 
as currency upon equal footing ; and it was believed 
in many quarters that they must soon part company, 
and that gold would soon become the sole standard 
of value in the commerce of the country. It was 
claimed that such a result must follow from the 
Act requiring the compulsory purchase and coinage 
of silver by the Government at the rate of at least 
two million dollars per month ; and it may be fairly 
urged that such would have been the inevitable 
consequence had it not been for the determination 
of the Treasury Department to use all lawful expe- 
dients to maintain the equality of the two metals 
as to their purchasing power, and the wise policy 
inaugurated and pursued by it in this respect. How 
completely successful it has been, the above exhibit 
will show. There has been an increase in eighteen 
months of over $110,000,000 in the silver circula- 
tion of the country ; thereby not only placing in the 
hands of the people the $36,000,000 of silver coined 
during that period, but also over $74,000,000 of the 
accumulated silver in the Treasury. 

Every American citizen is justly proud of the 
rapidity with which the great public debt of 
the country is reduced from year to year, and the 
record of this Administration far surpasses all its 
predecessors in this respect. The average annual 
reduction of the public debt during the three years 
preceding June 30, 1885, being $99,500,000; and 
during the three years succeeding the same date, 
$106,500,000. 



THE TREA SUR Y DEPA R TMENT. 1 3 1 

Another important branch of the work of the 
Treasury Department is the auditing and adjust- 
ment of public accounts. The annual expenditures 
of the Government for all purposes exceed three 
hundred millions of dollars, not a dollar of which 
expenditure can be legally allowed until an account 
therefor has been rendered to the proper accounting 
officers of the Treasury Department, and the same 
has been approved and certified by them to be 
correct. This work is mainly done by the six 
auditors, two comptrollers, commissioner of customs, 
and the various divisions of the Secretary's office. 
When the present Administration undertook this 
work, it was in many bureaus and divisions very 
largely in arrears. It will be impossible in the brief 
limits of this book to give any thing like a detailed 
or tabulated statement of the results which have 
been accomplished here during the past three years. 
A few prominent facts only can be mentioned. 

In the office of the first auditor, wher«e the 
accounts accruing in the Treasury Department are 
first examined, during the three years subsequent to 
1885 there has been an average annual increase 
of three thousand in the number of accounts 
examined and certified as compared with the three 
years immediately preceding, and an average 
decrease of the cost of the office, on the basis of 
the amount of work done, of nearly eleven per cent 
annually. 

In the office of the first comptroller, which reviews 
in part the accounts examined and certified by the 
first auditor, and also the accounts of the fifth 
auditor, there has been an average annual increase, 
during the same period, in the number of accounts 



132 THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET. 

of 7,700, and an increase in the amount involved, 
as shown by the footings of the accounts examined, 
of nearly one billion dollars annually; and the 
average decrease of cost of work has been about 
twenty-one per cent annually. 

In the office of the fourth auditor, where all the 
disbursements in the naval service are first 
examined, there has been an average annual 
increase of forty per cent in the number of claims 
and accounts adjusted, and of over nine millions 
in the amount involved ; while the average annual 
expenses of the office have been over two thousand 
dollars less, and an average decrease in the cost of 
work, according to the amount done, of thirty-five 
per cent annually. 

In the office of the commissioner of customs there 
has been an increase of eleven per cent in the 
average number of accounts annually adjusted per 
capita ; and in the Division of Customs, in the 
Secretary's office, in which all the appeals in 
customs cases from the decision of collectors are 
examined and reported upon, there were examined 
and decided during the fiscal year ending June 30, 
1886, 25,537 appeals, while the total number for 
the three years immediately preceding only aggre- 
gated 26,526 ; it thus appearing that the work for 
the entire three years was only slightly in excess 
of that of the single year 1886. 

In the office of the sixth auditor, where all the 
accounts of the Post-office Department, and 
the expenditures of the postal service, amount- 
ing to over fifty millions of dollars annually, 
are finally adjusted, a corresponding improvement 
in the methods of transacting the public business 



THE TREASURY DEPARTMENT. 1 33 

has been effected. Much money has been saved 
to the public Treasury by the more rigid scrutiny 
to which the accounts passing through this office 
have been subjected. As an illustration, it may be 
stated that the number of cases in which orders 
have been made by the Postmaster-General, upon 
the report of the auditor, withholding commis- 
sions because of false reports of postmasters to 
increase their compensation, is 571, charging back 
an aggregate of $228,815 ; an4 it is evident, from an 
examination of the books, that the probable loss to 
the Government during the period from 1878 
to 1885 was more than one million of dollars from 
this single channel of fraud. 

In the second auditor's office are first examined 
the accounts of the disbursing officers of the army, 
and all claims for the back pay and bounty of soldiers 
in the war of the Rebellion, and all disbursements 
in the Indian service for supplies and the pay of 
agents and other officers. During the past three 
years there has been an increase in the number of 
claims and accounts adjusted of over thirty per cent, 
and an increase of over forty per cent in the amount 
involved, over a corresponding period prior to June 
30, 1885 ! an d the amount allowed and paid out for 
the back pay and bounty due soldiers during the 
last three years has been over $2,700,000, as against 
only $1,350,000 allowed in the three previous years, 
showing that the interests of the soldiers of the 
Union army have received special attention and 
consideration. 

The third auditor has the examination, in the 
first instance, of all claims and accounts arising 
in the Quartermaster's and Commissary Depart- 



134 THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET. 

ments of the army, including horse claims and 
miscellaneous claims and accounts, and all disburse- 
ments on account of pensions. The exhibit of 
work done in this office during the past three years, 
it is believed, is without parallel in the history of the 
department. In the Claims Division over 41,000 
claims have been disposed of during that period, 
while during the three years previously only 1 1 ,000 
were adjusted ; making an increase of over 350 per 
cent, and the amount involved was over 100 per cent 
greater. In the Horse-Claims Division over 9,000 
claims were disposed of during the past three years, 
and but 2,200 in the three years previously, an 
increase of over 400 per cent. In State war claims 
there has been an increase of nearly 700 per cent 
in the amount of claims disposed of during the 
same periods respectively, and in the Pension Divis- 
ion there has been an averap-e increase in the work 

O 

of the division of 254 per cent during the past 
three years over the work of the three previous 
years, and an average decrease in the force amount- 
ing to 3 1 per cent. During the past three years 
the number of clerks employed has been reduced 
2 1 per cent, and great improvement is noted in the 
attendance of clerks. The absences in the fiscal 
years 1884-85 aggregated over 6,000 days, while in 
1887-88 there were only 3,750 days ; and during the 
same years the absence on account of sickness fell 
off from 1780 to 357 days. 

The work of the second comptroller's office 
exhibits exceptionally good results. This office has 
the final revision and adjustment of all claims and 
accounts which are first examined in the offices of 
the second, third, and fourth auditors, and the 



THE TREASURY DEPARTMENT. 1 35 

supervision of the expenditures of all the appro- 
priations for the army, the navy, the Indian service, 
and the pension roll, aggregating - over $150,000,000 
annually. The average number of claims and 
accounts annually adjusted during the past three 
years is over 51,000, while the number was but 
22,000 annually during the three years prior to 1885, 
an increase of 133 per cent; and the number of 
vouchers examined and compared during the former 
period was 7,300,000, and but 3,600,000 during the 
years 1882, 1883, and 1884; and the official letters 
written were 22,000 as against 5,200 during the 
same periods respectively, while at the same time 
the force of clerks actually employed in the office 
has been reduced one-third. 

The office of the supervising architect of the 
Treasury Department has charge of all matters 
relating to the erection of public buildings through- 
out the country under appropriations by Acts of 
Congress. It has been under the supervision of the 
present supervising architect since July, 1887; an d 
during that period many reforms have been intro- 
duced into the administration of the office, and a 
large saving of expenses effected. The preparation 
of specifications has been greatly simplified ; and 
where, under the former system, 380 drawings and 
5 1 specifications were prepared for four buildings, 
under the present method only 86 drawings and 4 
specifications are required for the same buildings. 
Greater competition in submitting proposals has also 
been secured by giving greater publicity to the 
advertisements for proposals, especially by securing 
their publication, free of cost to the Government, in 
eighteen building papers published in all parts of 



136 THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET. 

the country, and obtaining the co-operation of forty- 
three building exchanges located in the principal 
cities. Where but three or four proposals were 
formerly received, the number now has run up in one 
case as high as forty-four. During the past year 
work has been commenced on seventeen buildings, 
and ten buildings have been completed, and twelve 
buildings are now so far advanced that they will be 
completed before Sept. 1 ; while during the three 
preceding years the average number of buildings 
commenced annually was ten, and the average num- 
ber completed annually, four. These results have 
all been accomplished without any increase in the 
working force of the office. 

In the Bureau of Engraving and Printing there 
has been a great increase in the amount of work 
done, and a great saving in the cost of doing it. 
In the three years ending June 30, 1885, there were 
produced 91,754,351 sheets of securities at a cost 
of $3,047,483.75. In the three years ending June 
30, 1888, 97,346,662 sheets of securities were 
turned out at a cost of $2,542,505.07. The increase 
in the number of securities printed was 5,592,311, 
and the saving in expense $504,978.68. The aver- 
age cost of a thousand sheets of securities in 1885 
was $34.2 1 ; in 1888 it was only $24.94. 38>°38>939 
sheets of securities in 1888 cost $948,819.29. The 
greatest production in any prior year was in 1883, 
when 33,330,746 sheets "cost $1,104,986.43. In 
1885 the average number of employees was 1,133, 
and the average number of sheets turned out for each 
employee less than 25,000. In 1888 the average 
number of employees was 895, and the average num- 
ber of sheets produced by each employee 42,500. 



THE TREASURY DEPARTMENT. 137 

These results have been due to economies in the 
management of the bureau, simpler methods of 
doing business, the discharge of superfluous em- 
ployees, the doing away with unnecessary places, 
and the exaction of greater diligence in the dis- 
charge of duty, and of a higher standard of qualifi- 
cation. At the same time the quality of the work, 
especially of the engraving, has been improved ; 
better provision has been made for the health and 
comfort of the employees, and new and improved 
machinery has been introduced. A just and 
orderly system of promotion has been followed, 
and the employees have had more constant employ- 
ment and better wages than ever before, while they 
have been free from the terror of arbitrary dismissal. 
Under the present Administration not a single 
person has been discharged for partisan reasons, or 
to make room for another. Specific appropriations 
have been secured, fixing the amount to be spent 
for plate-printing, for other services, and for materials, 
in lieu of the loose and indefinite appropriations 
which were formerly the rule ; and the number, grades, 
and salaries of all the employees have been fixed 
by law or regulation. By a recent order of the 
President, all the employees of the bureau have 
been brought under the civil service rules. These 
measures have made of the Bureau of Engraving 
and Printing an orderly, efficient, and reputable 
business establishment, which may safely challenge 
comparison with any like establishment in the 
world. 

The same general good results may be safely 
affirmed of every other bureau and division in the 
department, and there is scarcely a desk in the 



138 THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET. 

whole department upon which there can be found 
any thing but current work ; and this condition of 
the public business has not been reached by slight- 
ing work 'of any kind, but only after the most 
careful and painstaking examination of every voucher 
or question involving the law governing the adjust- 
ment and settlement of accounts. Nor has it been 
brought about by increasing the number of clerks 
and other employees in the department. On the 
contrary, the pay-roll of nearly every bureau and 
division shows a material decrease. The number of 
persons on the rolls of the department at Washington 
on the first day of July, 1885, was 3,747 ; and the 
number on the first day of July, 1888, 3,433. 
Useless offices have been abolished, and divisions 
have been consolidated ; and a large saving in 
expenditure has thus been effected, while the 
efficiency of the service has at the same time been 
greatly promoted. 



CHAPTER VII. 



THE WAR DEPARTMENT. 

The Secretary of War performs such duties as 
the President may enjoin upon him concerning the 
military service, and has the controlling super- 
vision of the purchase of Army supplies, transpor- 
tation, etc., and of all expenditures made under the 
appropriations for the support of the Army, and 
for such of a civil nature as may by law be placed 
under his administration. 

He is required to provide for the taking of met- 
eorological observations at the military stations in 
the interior of the continent, and at other points in 
the States and Territories ; arranges the course of 
studies at the Military Academy ; submits to Con- 
gress all estimates for public buildings and grounds 
in charge of the Chief of Engineers, and has 
supervision of all expenditures of appropriations 
for repair or improvement of the public buildings 
and Grounds in the District of Columbia in charge 
of the Chief of Engineers. He is charged with 
the purchase of such real estate as in his judgment 



140 



THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET. 



is suitable and necessary for the purpose of carry- 
ing into effect the provisions for national ceme- 
teries. He exercises supervision of the disburse- 
ments by Army officers ; has the control and man- 
agement of the National Park forming a part of 
Mackinac Island in the State of Michigan, and has 
direction of the expenditure of the appropriation 
for the Mississippi River Commission. 

He submits annually to Congress a statement of 
the appropriations for the preceding fiscal year for 
the Department of War under each specified head 
of appropriation, the amount expended and remain- 
ing on hand, together with estimates of the pro- 
bable demands that may remain on each appropria- 
tion. 

He also submits to Congress at each session, in 
connection with reports of examinations and sur- 
veys of rivers and harbors, full statements of all 
facts tending: to show the extent to which the oren- 
eral commerce of the country will be promoted by 
the several works of improvement contemplated by 
such examinations and surveys, together with 
numerous other reports relating to the various 
matters of which he has supervision. 

THE SECRETARY OF WAR. 

William Crowninshield Endicott 

Is a descendant of John Endicott, who was Gov- 
ernor of the Colony of Massachusetts in 1628, and 



THB WAR DEPARTMENT. 14 1 

his family have been continuously residents of 
Salem and its immediate vicinity ever since, most 
of the time in the old homestead of Governor 
Endicott. He is the son of William Putnam 
Endicott and Mary, daughter of Hon. Jacob 
Crowninshield, and was born in Salem, Nov. 19, 
1S26, and was reared and educated in that place. 
He was fitted for college at Salem, and grad- 
uated from Harvard in 1847. Afterwards evinc- 
ing a desire to choose the law as a profession, 
he at once entered the office of Nathaniel J. Lord, 
Esq., of Salem, who then stood at the head of the 
Essex bar, and, after a course at the Cambridge 
Law School, he was admitted to practice at Salem 
in 1S50. For the next two years he was alone, but 
found that he could form a business alliance with 
J. W. Perry, Esq., whose name is now well known 
as a legal author. It was during this partnership 
that Mr. Perry wrote the work which has since 
become famous and been pronounced one of the 
ablest works on the subject of which it treats, 
namely, " Perry on Trusts." In his preface Mr. 
Perry speaks of Mr. Endicott the following words : 

" And it is my especial duty and pleasure to ac- 
knowledge my obligations to my friend and associ- 
ate in business for nearly twenty years, William 
Crowninshield Endicott, Esq., whose sound learning 
and clear judgment have been a never-failing re- 
source in matters of doubt and difficulty, and whose 
refined and severe taste has been freely employed 
in smoothing redundances and softening asperities 
of manner and style." 

Lie was a director in one of the old State banks 
of Salem, and at the age of twenty-nine years 



142 THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET 

he was elected its president, which position he 
held until the bank went out of existence. 

Very soon the abilities of Mr. Endicott as a law- 
yer were recognized, and this, combined with his 
deportment and dignity of character, attracted and 
held a very large and constantly increasing business. 
So marked was his prominence, both as a lawyer 
and as a man, that, a vacancy occurring on the 
bench of the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachu- 
setts in 1873, Governor William B. Washburn 
selected him, although of a political party opposed 
to his own, for appointment to the vacant seat, with- 
out solicitation on the part of Mr. Endicott or his 
friends. 

He continued on the bench until 1882, when, his 
health failing him from the very close application 
to the business of the Court, he was compelled to 
go abroad, and, after having been in Europe for 
about a year, he forwarded his resignation to his 
colleagues upon the bench, whom he requested to 
place the letter in the hands of the Governor, Hon. 
John D. Long ; but his colleagues did not at once 
comply with his request, hoping to change his de- 
termination, thus retaining his valuable services to 
the State. The ill-health of Mr. Endicott con- 
tinuing, he was forced to decline the kindly offices 
of his colleagues, and insisted upon the prompt de- 
liverance of his letter of resignation to the Gov- 
ernor, which was accordingly done and accepted. 
And thus, after a period of nearly ten years upon 
the bench, during which time he delivered four 
hundred opinions and decisions as a judge, he closed 
his judicial career. 

On his return to the United States, he opened an 



THE WAR DEPARTMENT. 



143 



office in Boston for the practice of his profession, 
and became the general counsel for the New Eng- 
land Mutual Life Insurance Company. 

In 18S4, he was induced, after long and frequent 
urging, to consent to the use of his name as the 
Democratic candidate for Governor of the State. 
He accepted the nomination against his inclina- 
tions, as he did not feel equal to the long and 
protracted labors of a campaign, and with the 
understanding that under no circumstances was he 
to be called upon to participate in the campaign. 

In February, 1885, he was tendered a position in 
the Cabinet, in charge of the portfolio of Secretary 
of War, which position he has held continuously 
ever since, with credit to himself and honor to the 
nation. 

A distinguished literary gentleman of Massa- 
chusetts has paid the following graceful tribute to 
Mr. Endicott : 

" Among the cultivated men of Salem, William 
C. Endicott has accomplished, as lawyer, writer, 
jurist, and statesman, a work of which his native 
city will always be proud. He was born in Salem 
in 1826, and was graduated at Harvard in 1847. 
After having taken his decree at Cambridge, he 
was admitted to the bar in Essex County, and com- 
menced the practice of his profession in Salem. 
His judgment as a lawyer was soon recognized, and 
he became one of the leaders of the bar and one 
of the best of office advisers. The grace and 
finish of his style have always been recognized in 
his public performances, among the most interest- 
ing and elaborate of which are his orations on the 
two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the land- 



144 THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET. 

ing of John Endicott, celebrated in Salem in 1878; 
his address, before the Young Men's Union on 
Patriotism as bearing on the duties of the citizens ; 
address on John Hampden and his relations to the 
great Puritan movement here and in England ; 
lecture on Chivalry; agricultural address at Ster- 
ling on the relation of agriculture to the stability 
and prominence of the State ; and speech on the 
death of N. J. Lord. Mr. Endicott's services on 
the supreme bench of Massachusetts are highly 
esteemed, and his conduct of affairs as Secretary 
of War, to which he was appointed in 1885, will 
place him on the list of sound and judicious Cabi- 
net Ministers." 

The results of his administration of the military 
affairs of the Government will best be understood 
by a reference to the pages which follow. 

Among the principal acts of Mr. Endicott as 
Secretary of War was the organization of the Board 
on Fortifications or Other Defences on June 1, 
18S5. Meetings were held at New York and else- 
where, during which the defensive works of the 
United States in the different parts of the country 
were thoroughly inspected, as well as the capacity 
of the large number of iron and steel works of the 
country ; numerous papers from inventors and 
other persons in reference to the subject of fortifi- 
cations and defences were received and examined 
and the whole subject of coast defences was dealt 
with. An exhaustive report of the Board was sub- 
mitted to Congress, wherein the utterly defenceless 
condition of the sea-coast and lake frontier is thor- 
oughly set forth, and asking that immediate action 
be taken to prevent the disastrous and humilia- 



THE WAR DEPARTMENT. 1 45 

ting results that might follow a declaration of war 
with the most insignificant of foreign powers pos- 
sessing guns and ships of modern construction. 

In connection with this work was that of the ex- 
amination of the different methods or inventions for 
the resisting of attacks from the seaboard, and how 
to best silence the armored ships and steel guns 
and mortars of modern construction. Among 
other means of defence which have been developed 
and examined under the auspices of the Board, is 
the dynamite gun and others of large calibre that 
have been tested at Sandy Hook. 

Under Mr. Endicott's administration of the War 
Department, the civil service law has been strictly 
observed, and in no instances have removals been 
made in the War Department for purely political 
reasons ; indeed, the removals have been very few, 
and in every instance for cause. Below is presented 
a statement showing the changes which occurred in 
the classified service of the department between 
July 16, 1883, the date on which the law went into 
operation, to July i, 1S88, in the belief that it may 
be of interest and possibly of some value, as show- 
ing the practical operation of the law : 

Resigned 237 

Died 80 

Discharged ....... 158 

Dropped at the end of probationary term . . 9 

Total . . . 484 

Appointed . 356 

Decrease (through legislation) in number of positions 86 
Vacancies existing ..... 42 

Total . . . 4S4 



I46 THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET. 

The following statement shows the number of 
persons to whom letters of appointment were issued, 
but who failed, for the reasons stated, to enter the 
service: 

Declined appointments ..... 37 

Failed to report . . . . . .10 

Died prior to receipt of appointment 1 

Total ... 48 

The total number of positions in the classified 
service in the War Department on November 14, 
1887, including twenty-three places exempt from 
the operations of the law under Rule XIX of the 
Civil Service Rules, was 1,264. Taking this num- 
ber as a basis of calculation, it will be seen from 
the foregoing statement that the aggregate of those 
resigned and those who failed to accept appoint- 
ment constituted 19 per cent, of the entire force. 

Mr. Endicott has also been an advocate of an in- 
crease in the salaries of the efficient clerks, in order 
to induce them to remain in the public service. If 
the higher places had higher salaries and were open 
to competition, it would add much to the efficiency 
of the service and would hold out strong induce- 
ments to the older clerks to remain. 

The departmental examinations for promotion 
under the new Civil Service Rules, which occurred 
in the summer of 1887 and which were held 
during the period between June 18 and October 
28, embraced the whole classified service of the 
War Department. The total number of persons 
examined was 1,014, of whom 953, or 95 per cent, 
passed the examination, and of this number 
353' or 35 P er cen t-> attained an average mark- 
ing above 90. Of the total number examined 51, or 



THE WAR DEPARTMENT. 



147 



5 per cent., failed to pass, having attained an aver- 
age marking of less than 75 per cent. 

At the second departmental examination held 
April 25, 1888, there were examined — 



Failed 
2 



Of Class 3 ...... 2 

Of Cla^s 2 ...... 21 

Of Class 1 ...... 18 4 

Of Class $1,000 ..... 46 3 

Of Class D 2 

It thus appears that, of the 89 persons examined, 
80 (or 90 per cent.) passed the examination ; while 
9 (or 10 per cent.) failed to pass, having attained an 
average marking of less than 75 per cent. 

The Secretary believes there are other great ad- 
vantages resulting from the Civil Service Law, and 
among them the entire abolition of political assess- 
ments and the abandonment of " election leaves," 
the latter of which had grown into a great abuse. 
Prior to the enactment of the Civil Service Law in 
1883, it was the custom to grant employees of the 
department leaves of absence to attend the vari- 
ous elections in their several States, and these 
were not deducted from their annual leaves of thirty 
days each year, and, for the 1,200 employees of the 
department, estimating that 50 percent, took advan- 
tage of the election leaves, amounted to 6,000 days, 
and equalled the time of one clerk for twenty years. 
Since the passage of the Civil Service Law this 
custom has ceased to exist. Employes who desire 
to exercise the elective franchise may still do so, 
but the time consumed must be deducted from their 
annual leave of thirty days, thus saving to the gov- 
ernment their services. 

Through the active and persevering labor 01 



ia8 the president and his cabinet. 

those connected with the Quartermaster-General's 
Office, the reforms carried out under the sugges- 
tion and approval of the Secretary of War have 
been very successful, as may be seen from the 
following statement : — The authorized force of the 
Quartermaster General for the fiscal year 1S84-85 
was 203. This has been reduced for the present 
fiscal year to 123, showing a saving of 80 employees. 
The appropriation for the first term was, $240,490.00 
and for the present year $156,440.00, showing a re- 
duction of $84,055.00, and additional evidence of the 
economy and good work of the present Administra- 
tion. 

The work of the record and pension division of 
the Surgeon-General's Office has also been much 
improved, and is now 111 a satisfactory condition. 
It had so far fallen in arrears that 9,5 1 1 unanswered 
calls from the Commissioner of Pensions for infor- 
mation relative to pension claims had accumulated 
in this office on December 13, 1886. Prior to that 
date a large number of cases were subjected to a 
delay of two and one-half and three months, and 
often for a longer period. This state of affairs had 
been brought about by a combination of causes, 
the most important of which were defective 
methods of work, laxity of discipline, indifference 
and lack of interest on the part of some of the 
clerks, many of whom were inattentive to duty, 
inefficient, physically or mentally disabled, or other- 
wise incompetent. A belief seemed to pervade 
the whole office that no improvement in the old 
system was either desirable or possible, and that 
any change made in it must necessarily be for the 
worse. To such an extent was this carried that the 



THE WAR DEPARTMENT. 



I 4 9 



two principal officers responsible for this division 
were of opinion that for efficient and constant work 
it was necessary to have from two to ten thousand 
cases always on hand. 

Repeated efforts by the Department to secure 
greater expedition having failed, the methods of work 
were changed, at once increasing its volume without 
diminishing its accuracy; the discipline of the 
force was improved; disabled clerks, who, for vari- 
ous reasons, were entitled to consideration, were 
assigned to such duties as they could efficiently 
perform with comfort to themselves ; twenty clerks 
discharged ; and it is now generally understood that 
the work of the office is of the first importance, to 
which personal preference and convenience must 
yield, and it has been clearly demonstrated that a 
larcre number of cases on hand is not essential to 

o 

the efficient and economical employment of the 
clerks engaged on pension work. Any call for in- 
formation from the records of the Surgeon- 
General's Office relative to pension claims can now 
be answered in from one to three days from the 
date of its receipt. 

Since the accession of Mr. Endicott, Congress 
has passed more so-called " bridge acts," authoriz- 
ing the construction of bridges across the navigable 
waters of the United States, than have been passed 
by Congress under the administration of any Secre- 
tary for the previous ten years. A great many of 
these acts related to bridges across the more im- 
portant navigable streams of the country, and in 
nearly every instance legal questions were involved 
that required the abilities of a very able lawyer to 
decide. Among the more important of the bridge 
acts mentioned were those authorizing the construe- 



*5° 



THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET. 



tion of the bridge across the Kill von Kull, or 
Staten Island bridge ; the bridge across the Hud- 
son River at Poughkeepsie ; and the bridge across 
the Ohio River at Cincinnati. In each of these 
acts legal questions arose, which required much 
deliberation, and Mr. Endicott was enabled, through 
his intelligence and acumen, to render such deci- 
sions as would prove not to be inimical to the inter- 
ests of the United States, at the same time observ- 
ing all the principles of equity and justice to the 
corporations building these bridges. 

When Mr. Endicott became Secretary of War, 
he found great inequality in the punishment of sol- 
diers for similar offences in the different depart- 
ments and divisions of the Army. With a view to 
correcting the injustice done to many by the action 
of courts, he caused the code of military law known 
as the Articles of War to be examined, looking to 
their amendment so as to make them more in con- 
sonance with the spirit of the age in which we live 
than at the time of their original adoption, nearly a 
hundred years ago. He recommended to Congress 
that specific punishments should be awarded for 
particular offences, and not to leave to courts-mar- 
tial the discretion given them in the Articles of 
War as they stand to-day. In the meantime, to do 
what he could within the law, he determined to 
make more uniform the punishments awarded for 
desertion, by fixing the period of confinement at 
two years, for in different departments and divisions 
they would be sentenced from three to four or five 
years' confinement for this offence, while in a very 
few instances some courts would sentence them to 
two years. Believing that the sentences for these 



THE WAR DEPARTMENT. 



151 



long periods were oppressive, the Secretary of War 
limited the period of confinement in the military- 
prisons, if the person's behavior was such as to en- 
able him to do so, to two years. 

In matters of administration few men who have 
had the experience of Mr. Endicott have done more 
to simplify the duties of the Department, and to in- 
augurate economy in the discharge of its functions. 
Wherever it was possible to reduce expenses with- 
out crippling the service to any extent, the Secre- 
tary has retrenched the expenses of the Depart- 
ment. Probably never in the administration of the 
affairs of the War Department have the require- 
ments of the law been so carefully observed as 
since his advent as head of the Department. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

THE NAVY DEPARTMENT. 

The Secretary of the Navy performs such duties 
as the President of the United States, who is 
Commander-in-Chief, may assign him, and has the 
general superintendence of construction, manning, 
armament, equipment, and employment of vessels 
of war. 

THE SECRETARY OF THE NAVY. 
William C. Whitney 

Was born at Conway, Mass., July 15, 1841. 
After graduating from Williston Seminary at East- 
hampton, Mass., he entered Yale College in 1859; 
from there he entered the law school of Harvard 
College, from which he graduated in 1865. He 
continued the study of law in the office of Hon. 
Abraham R. Lawrence, in New York City, was 
admitted to the bar, and entered upon the practice 
of law in New York. In 1872 he was appointed 
inspector of schools in the same city, and in 
August, 1875, was appointed corporation counsel. 
This was at the time of the downfall of the Tweed: 
ring. The position had amounted to little for 



1 54 THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET. 

many years ; but now it suddenly became important, 
partly because of the mass of litigation over fraudu- 
lent claims against the city, but largely through the 
celerity, energy, and ability shown by Mr. Whitney 
in clearing off the cases. This achievement estab- 
lished his reputation as a lawyer, and he maintained 
it during his continuance in office, which he subse- 
quently resigned. 

Mr. Whitney is a natural born organizer, and in 
his management of the New York County Democ- 
racy proved his ability in promoting measures for 
definite objects. As Secretary of the Navy, Mr. 
Whitney has had the good-will and support of 
universal public opinion in his efforts to secure a 
first-class navy for the United States ; and we now 
propose to show what has been done by the Navy 
Department under his control. 

Under the present Secretary, a great advance has 
been made in the work of this department. An 
entire plant for a new navy has been laid, and the 
work is steadily progressing towards a successful 
termination. One great reason for this success is 
the determination of the Secretary to have this 
department managed upon business principles, with- 
out regard to the red-tape routine which existed 
on his taking command. As is well known, the 
condition of our navy in 1883 was any thing but 
satisfactory, and proper credit should be given to 
Secretary Whitney for placing this country in a 
position where we shall soon be free from any 
danger from a foreign foe. 



THE NA VY DEPARTMENT. 



155 



The striking features of the present administra- 
tion of the Navy Department have been, — 

1 st, The high character of its designs for war- 
ships ; the great advance in these beyond the point 
reached in the designs for the " Chicago," "Atlanta," 
" Boston," and " Dolphin " (in 1883) ; and the meth- 
ods of making contracts for the construction of new 
vessels, whereby all competitors are fully acquainted 
with the definite plans and details of the vessels 
before bidding, and contractors are rewarded for an 
excess of performance beyond that specified and 
required, or are fined for a failure to comply with the 
requirements. 











Horse- 














Power 




Date 


NAME. 


Displace- 


Trial 


Horse- 


per Ton 


Built at. 


of 




ment. 


Speed. 


Power. 


of 
Machin- 
ery. 




Con- 
tract. 


CHICAGO 


4,500 


16.3 


5,084 


5-4 




1883 


ATLANTA 


3,190 


155 


3,35° 


5-i 




1883 


BOSTON . . 


3,190 
i,4S5 


14.9 
15-5 


3,78o 
2 , 2 53 


5-7 
5-6 




1883 

1883 


DOLPHIN 








Esti 


mated. 








BALTIMORE . . . 


4,413 


19 to 20 


10,700 


11.9 


Philadelphia . . . 


1886 


CHARLESTON 








3,73° 


18 to 19 


7,5oo 


10 


5 


San Francisco 




1886 


YORKTOWN . 








1,700 


16.0 


3,500 


10 


3 


Philadelphia 




1886 


PETREL . . 








890 


13.0 


1,300 


10 





Baltimore 




1886 


BENNINGTON 








1,700 


16.0 


3,50o 


10 


3 


Chester . . 




1887 


CONCORD . 








1,700 


16.0 


3,5oo 


10 


3 


Chester . . 




1887 


NEWARK. . . 








4,083 


18.0 


8,500 


10 


1 


Philadelphia 




1887 


PHILADELPHIA 






4,3 2 4 


19 to 20 


10,700 


12 


2 


Philadelphia 




1887 


SAN FRANCISCO 




4,083 


19 to 20 


10,700 


12 


2 


San Francisco 




1887 


VESUVIUS . . . 




800 


20 to 21 


4,000 


16 





Philadelphia 




18S7 


TORPEDO BOAT 




99 


23.0 


1,600 


34 





Bristol, R.I. 




1888 






Armored 


Vessels. 










6,648 


17.0 


9,000 


9-9 


New York Navy Yard, 


1887 




6,300 


17.0 


8,600 


10.4 


New York Navy Yard, 


1887 



156 THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET. 

An examination of the appended table will show 
the progress made in the requirements for speed, 
horse-power, and reduced weight of machinery, the 
amount of work performed or in hand, and the 
wider distribution of naval ship-building throughout 
the country. 

2d, Furnishing the means to induce the estab- 
lishment of plant and facilities for the manufac- 
ture of gun-forgings, armor, and heavy shafting, 
within the United States, so as to enable the Gov- 
ernment and private firms to be independent of 
foreign manufacturers ; and the creation of naval 
gun factories at the Washington Navy Yard and 
elsewhere. 

Hitherto, it has been necessary to purchase heavy 
steel shaftings, armor-plates, and steel forgings for 
guns of more than eight-inch calibre, abroad ; but 
under the contract of the Navy Department with the 
Bethlehem Iron Company, the forgings of guns up 
to twelve-inch calibre will begin to be delivered in 
August ; the shafting for new vessels can be made 
at same time ; and steel armor plates, ranging in 
thickness from three to twelve inches, will be deliv- 
ered in 1889 ; while the gun factory will at the same 
time be in position to build the highest power guns 
up to sixteen inches calibre. (At the present time 
it can and has built ten-inch guns.) 

Heretofore it has been necessary to buy heavy 
steel shafting - abroad : hereafter it can be furnished 
within the United States. 

In addition to the more powerful and heavier 
guns to be built at the naval gun factory, the Navy 
Department will be supplied with the recently de- 
veloped rapid-fire guns, with which all navies are 



THE NA VY DEPA R TMENT. 1 5 7 

arming, by the firm of Hotchkiss & Co., which has 
established connections in Connecticut for the 
manufacture of their guns and ammunition, all of 
which will be of domestic material and workman- 
ship. 

The enormous benefit to be derived by the 
country, in the possession of the means and in- 
creased facilities for arming its fleet or other fortifi- 
cations, cannot be overestimated. 

3d, The improvement in the system of purchases, 
care of stores, etc. 

By the consolidation of all naval stores under one 
store keeper at each naval station, great economy 
has been accomplished. The reduction during the 
first year under this system, in the expense of 
handling and caring for stores, including clerks, 
has been over 25 per cent, or a net gain of over 
$55,000. 

The saving to the Government through the im- 
proved methods of making contracts for the entire 
naval service, and of concentrating these under one 
head, has been very great. 

With reference to the former and the present sys- 
tems of making purchases by contract and in open 
market for the navy, it is difficult to present a com- 
parative statement of results, or an exact showing of 
economy now achieved, owing to the lack of data at 
command concerning the former method. Under that 
method, each bureau controlled its own purchases ; 
making them at such times and in such manner, 
under the law, as each saw fit to select. In order 
to exhibit a comprehensive statement of the results 
achieved through that system, exhaustive and lengthy 
research would be needed in the respective bureaus. 



158 THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET. 

But with regard to the present system, it may be 
said that the Government secures much better terms 
by buying as much as possible under yearly con- 
tracts, thereby aggregating the purchase of similar 
supplies for the various stations in one or more 
contracts made at one time. By consolidating 
the work of purchase as far as possible, there 
must also be a large reduction in the expense of 
advertising. 

The annual contracts, ninety-three in number, 
made with this bureau for the present fiscal year, 
1887-88, amounted to $548,398.86; the open pur- 
chases in pursuance of approved requisitions upon 
the purchasing bureau amount, for the first ten 
months of the year, to $332,616.82. These figures 
embrace the general purchases, under contract 
or in open market, pertaining to all the bureaus 
except provisions and clothing and medicine and 
surgery, and also coal and stationery for these two 
bureaus. 

For the ensuing fiscal year all the work of con- 
tracts and open purchase, and all the accounts and 
returns, will be based upon the new classified sched- 
ule of naval supplies and material. By the system 
adopted, the purchasing bureau will be able to report 
at the end of the year the exact value under each of 
the classes of the schedule of receipts, expenditures, 
and balances remaining in hand at every station and 
on board every ship. These results can be pre- 
sented in tabulated form in such manner as to 
give a valuable digest of the year's work in all that 
relates to the purchase and expenditure of naval 
supplies. 



THE NAVY DEPARTMENT. 159 

It will thus be seen that in the Navy Department, 
as in all other departments of this Administration, 
there is a steady advance in satisfactory results, 
which are secured at an economical saving to the 
finances of the nation. 



CHAPTER IX. 



THE POST-OFFICE DEPARTMENT. 

The Postmaster-General has the direction and 
management of the Post-Office Department. He 
appoints all officers and employees of the Depart- 
ment, except the three Assistant Postmasters-Gen- 
eral, who are appointed by the President, by and 
with the advice and consent of the Senate ; ap- 
points all postmasters whose compensation does 
not exceed one thousand dollars ; makes postal 
treaties with foreign Governments, by and with the 
advice and consent of the President, awards and 
executes contracts, and directs the management of 
the domestic and foreign mail service. 

THE POSTMASTER-GENERAL. 
Don M. Dickinson 

Was born in Auburn, New York State, about 
1846, and is therefore forty-two years old. His 
family came from the State of Massachusetts, 
where it was widely extended and well known. 
His father, Asa Dickinson, settled in Michigan 
when Don was a boy, and he was educated in that 
State, obtaining the degree of Bachelor of Laws in 
1869. 



1 62 THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET. 

Mr. Dickinson early showed great capacity as a 
civil lawyer, and as a business man's attorney he 
is said to have no superior in his State. 

His professional prosperity has kept pace with 
the rise in his reputation, his income for several 
years having been not less than $25,000. Mr. 
Dickinson has not until very recently been prom- 
inent in politics, his interests as well as his ener- 
gies having been engrossed by his profession. 

In 1872, being still a young man, he advocated 
the election of Greely ; in 1876, he was Chairman 
of the State Committee of the Democratic party; 
in 1884, he was a member of the National Com- 
mittee which managed the Democratic canvass, 
and December 6th, 1887, he was nominated by the 
President as Postmaster-General. 

There is no Department in the Government that 
appeals to the interest of every American citizen 
so strongly as the Post-Office Department. Its 
agents are welcomed from the Atlantic to the Paci- 
fic, from the mountains of Alaska to the plains of 
Texas, and probably few of our readers, when in 
daily receipt of their correspondence, have the 
faintest idea of the enormous extent of the duties 
so ably managed by this Department under the 
careful supervision of the Postmaster-General, 
from whose last report we annex such extracts as 
will in a condensed form supply such information 
as may be most interesting. 

The expectation of growth and improvement in the affairs of 
the postal service, indulged in previous reports, has been realized 
during the past year. In part arising from an extension of the 
limits of mailable matter of the fourth class — ordered to meet 
the requirements of trade — and from the receipts of the special- 
delivery service, but chiefly from the greater employment of all 



THE POST-OFFICE DEPARTMENT. 163 

postal facilities consequent upon the rising business prosperity 
of the country, faithfully reflected in the postal service, the 
revenues have gained upon the preceding year by nearly 
$4,840,000, attaining a height never reached before, despite the 
restrictive operations of various reductions in the rates of post- 
age. Upon the other hand, the study of economy has not been 
without effect in restraining the necessarily rising scale of ex- 
penditure, so that the increase of cash disbursements has but 
little overstepped $2,000,000. * * * The time is probably not 
distant when, if the wisest measures of economy be pursued, the 
rate of charge upon letters can be properly lowered to one cent 
an ounce, and some diminishment permitted in the postages 
upon merchandise and other matter. But the letter postage of 
the United States is now fixed at a rate below that of all other 
countries save one, and, when the distances of transportation 
are considered, is cheaper than in any other, and the combined 
receipts from all mail matter not of the first class fall far short 
of its handling, affording little claim therefore for less postage 
charges. 

The paramount duty of the Government, so far as it concerns 
this Department, is to furnish the most perfect and useful postal 
facilities to the people, within the authority of the Constitution, 
which the skill of man can provide. It is due to the character 
of the citizens of this country, to their freedom and enlighten- 
ment, to their enterprise and activity, to their wealth and power, 
and especially to the intimacy of their personal relations main- 
tained over so great an expanse of territory to an extent never 
equalled, hardly aimed at, elsewhere on the globe, from which 
arise the fraternity of feeling and community of interest that 
furnish the safest guarantees for the future stability and value 
of our Federal institutions. It is, indeed, their due as a 
personal, individual right, because the Government monopolizes 
the postal business and forbids them all other attempts at self- 
service. Upon every ground the postal service rightfully urges 
a constant and exacting demand upon legislative and executive 
wisdom and labor for its enlargement and improvement: to the 
utmost of perfectibility. * * * 

The whole number of post-offices on the 1st day of October, 
1887, had become 55,434, of which 2,381 were salaried or Presi- 
dential offices, distributed in classes, and 53,053 were fourth 
class. Besides these were 625 branch offices or stations, an in- 
crease of 12, for the sale of stamps only. Of the whole, 8,089 
were money-order offices and no money-order stations. * * * 



164 THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET. 

The division of post-offices into the two general classes — by 
distinguishing those the importance and magnitude of whose 
business is such as to require independent and separate main- 
tenance from those which can properly be carried on in connec- 
tion with a private business — implies that the former be regard- 
ed and treated entirely as Government offices in every particular 
of their affairs. This consequence is demanded by the soundest 
principles of public business, and its recognition appears to 
promise far more satisfactory and efficient service. The office 
should then become the care of the Department, be provided 
and equipped, supplied and maintained at its cost, and the post- 
master paid by a salary measured by the nature of the responsi- 
bilities and duties imposed upon him. His time and labor, 
reasonably exacted, belong then to the Government, to be ap- 
plied not only to proper supervision but to such other duties of 
his office as their use may enable the proper discharge of by 
him personally ; and for the excess of necessary service required 
the proper provision of clerks devolves upon the Department. 

The Postmaster-General makes the following 
important statement in reference to the cost of the 
Post-Office Buildings. 

Obviously the first objection to be fairly met and perfectly 
guarded is the risk of unnecessary and lavish expenditure ; and 
the sure economy of such a course of extensive construction de- 
mands to be demonstrated and its satisfactory safeguards dis- 
cerned and provided. Yet it will be remarked that Congress 
necessarily loses no control over the subject, and can apply any 
checks from time to time not foreseen to be requisite but dis- 
covered to be by trial ; and the official responsibility of the 
officers of the Department, with the limitations fixed by appro- 
priation and by public criticism, affords trustworthy grounds for 
confidence in the experiment. Indeed it may be truly said, 
notwithstanding instances of peculation and criminal miscon- 
duct inseparable from human trusts, that the record of the vast 
expenditures and performances of the Post-Office Department, 
during its history, displays such fidelity in the use of public 
money and the accomplishment of results so satisfactorily an- 
swerable to its proportionable outlays, that no agency of the 
Government promises to better justify the proper deposit of ex- 
tensive authority to attempt a great undertaking for the public 
benefit and the improvement: of its service. 



THE POST- OFFICE DEPA R TMENT. \ 6 5 

In reference to Post-Office clerks the report of 
the Postmaster-General makes the following suer- 
gestions which convey conviction to the practical 
mind Of every business man. 

The first aim should seemingly be to settle the rules by which 
to determine in what offices and to what extent clerical service, 
in addition to the postmaster's personal service, ought to be fur- 
nished by the Department. This is properly dependent on the 
nature and magnitude of the work required at the office. It 
does not depend on the gross receipts, nor is it to be gauged by 
them. The tables show this clearly. And the work in post- 
offices divides into many different kinds, each of which requires 
an especial consideration. The desideratum is, a fixed scale 
for measurement — not in money, but in clerical power or 
capacity — of the several kinds of work, in order to make the 
adequate provision for each branch of duty, and in total. This 
appears attainable by a study of each species of labor sufficiently 
to determine how much of it a person of average competency 
should perform in a given time ; the perception of the proper 
unit of measure in each grade of duty. 

Given the rules, the particular facts to which they are to be 
applied must then be reliably found. This suggests the second 
aim of such an inquiry : the discovery or invention of the 
methods by which the postmaster may trustworthily take the 
census of his various duties and make faithful reports thereof in 
such form that the true estimation of the clerical service due his 
circumstances arises from the application of the rules. 

The third point indicated is, that the entire body of post- 
office clerks requires to be intelligently graded into classes and 
divisions, adapted to the work in post-offices, the pay of each 
grade and rank predetermined ; and assignment of the force 
found necessary for the work — according to the prescribed rules 
— should be of clerks of the requisite grades, chargeable to the 
Department, instead of being in money to the postmaster to em- 
ploy service. * * * 

So signally helpful to the public service is a well-trained, well- 
disposed, faithful, honest, and patriotic postal clerk, who is de- 
voted to his duty, and content to confine himself to its excellent 
performance as his best recommendation, eschewing foreign 
contentions which excite needless animosity and invite attack, 
that no superior who sustains the care of the service fails to 



1 66 THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET. 

recognize the injury to the public interests of his loss. It is 
undeniably true that equally as good may elsewhere be found, and 
in time a practised and competent successor may stand in his 
stead. But it is not enough for the particular exigency that 
humanity betters with time, and the present and future hold as 
suitable for every vocation as the past. Time is of the essence 
of excellence in the mail service, and immediate provision for 
a loss is its imperative demand, rendering the needless loss of 
a valuable, well-governed employe in such a place a breach of 
public duty. The private wrong may be also great, especially 
when many years have been given to faithful service of the 
Government for a rate of pay which offers no possibility of much 
saving, and natural disqualification for other avocations can not 
but have resulted. 

The postal service is prominent among the agencies which 
the common Government can better wield for the common good 
than any private or corporate hands. Yet its efficiency demands 
so vast a body of public servants, responsive to the will of the 
central authority, that no branch is more within the just appre- 
hension of lodging excessive power in the Federal Government. 
No principle has been more aptly and vigorously invoked to 
limit the extension of the Department's powers, especially to 
withhold control over the kindred function adjoined to it by so 
many civilized countries, the management of correspondence by 
the electric wire. Yet no counteracting force can more effectively 
modify the danger and deliver the agency of Government from 
the chains of that wise fear to a greater public usefulness than 
such a course of appointment and such a tenure in appointees 
as will render them dependent only on excellence in public ser- 
vice and fidelity to the common interest, while they remain in 
and subject to the influences of different localities to which they 
belong and their service is immediately directed. Discrimina- 
tion in original selection diminishes the risks of incurring the 
censure of sound discipline ; and amenability to no other 
criticism for continuance in duty enfranchises the officer in 
great degree from the perilous subserviency. 

The importance of the Carrier Service is re- 
cognized. 

There should be no hesitation in providing every city and 
town in the United States with this service, whose business 
interests and local conditions are such as to make it of an 



THE POST-OFFICE DEPARTMENT. 167 

advantage compensatory to its cost. There can justly be 
no shorter limitation. One such community of our people is 
equally entitled with another ; and all such are entitled by the 
best claim, American citizenship upon American enterprise, to 
the highest conveniences of the best postal system. No limita- 
tion is to be justly found in the relation of local postage to the 
cost of this service. The aggregate of such postage exceeded 
the entire cost of carrier-delivery in the past year by $2,072,- 
561.62, and each year the excess will be more. But 30 cities 
out of 329 now in possession realized this result independently, 
so that the claim of such as do not enjoy it is equal to that of 
the other 299 which are assisted to maintain it. The liberal 
policy approved by Congress is fully warranted by the finances 
of the postal service, and will doubtless be generously pursued 
hereafter. * * * 

The extent of our Domestic Service is given : — 

The large area of our country and the equality of privileges 
enjoyed in all parts of it, with the corresponding diffusion of all 
the advantages, accompanied by all the demands of high civiliza- 
tion, have caused the gradual augmentation of our system of 
mail transportation to its present immensity, and continually 
press its greater extension. The most trustworthy, statistics at 
command show that all the residue of the globe possesses no 
more miles of railroads employed in mail carriage than the 
United States alone, and that no other one nation maintains 
one-quarter the amount of other methods of mail transporta- 
tion. * * * 

In 1886 there were handled by clerks in the Railway Mail 
Service, of letters, ordinary mail matter, registered packages, 
through registered pouches, and inner registered sacks, 5,345,- 
846,044. In 1887, 5,851,394,057 ; being an increase of 505,- 
148,053 pieces, or 9.46 per cent. 

And the extent of Foreign Service as follows : — 

The Foreign Mail Service has been satisfactorily conducted 
during the past year. The use of all vessels, whether foreign 
or domestic, departing from our ports for other countries, has 
been regularly tendered to the Department, and the most favor- 
able opportunities for frequent and rapid transportation afforded 
by ocean carriers have been availed of. In the transatlantic ser- 
vice, where many vessels of rival lines compete for patronage, 



1 68 THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET. 

the swiftest have been chosen for employment from week to 
week in accordance with the settled policy of the Department. 
The service so secured is unequalled by that of any other 
country ; contrasting conspicuously to our advantage with the 
service inward from Great Britain, which is maintained at 
greater cost and less efficiency by adherence to the system of 
contracting with particular lines for annual subsidies. The rates 
paid by the United States are highly remunerative to the princi- 
pal companies whose swift ships secure the heaviest mails ; 
probably yielding greater profit, proportioned to space, weight, 
and expense, than anything transported except jewels and 
precious metals ; if, indeed, they are to be excepted. 

The entire weight of our foreign mail despatches by sea was 
nearly 1,500,000 kilograms, or 3.278,269 pounds, of which 568,- 
728 were of letter mail and 2,709,541 pounds of prints and merch- 
andise samples. Nine-tenths of the letter mail was European- 
bound, and but about one-tenth for South America, the West 
Indies, Pacific Islands, and the Orient- combined ; but of the 
paper and samples mail the latter countries received nearly one- 
fourth, and the despatches across the Atlantic were little over 
three-fourths. 

The increase in the gross weight of our ocean mails was about 
410,488 pounds ; the transatlantic letter mail gaining 10.59 per 
cent, and the Central and South American 19.21 per cent.; the 
paper mail in approximate similar ratios. As an indication of 
increasing trade with the countries of our hemisphere these are 
acceptable facts. The increase in the sailings from our ports 
of steamships bound for the West Indies, Central or South 
American ports is pleasingly cumulative, having been greater 
during the last fiscal year than for many previous years, perhaps 
than for any, the total number of such sailings at the three 
ports of New York, New Orleans, and San Francisco being re- 
ported at 831, as against 712 during the preceding year. 

The following important Postal Conventions 
have been executed since March 4, 1S85, with 
Tasmania, Mexico and Canada, also Parcel Post 
Conventions with Jamaica, Barbadoes, the Baha- 
mas and British Honduras, and nearly completed 
with Mexico ; through these conventions our citizens 
enjoy advantages which when understood will be 
sure to be appreciated. 



THE POST-OFFICE DEPARTMENT. 169 

Besides the foregoing, negotiations have been opened with 
the countries of the Central and South American states, and 
the favorable replies received indicate that, after a sufficient con- 
sideration, many, if not all, will join in this arrangement of 
such excellent promise to enlarge the commercial and individ- 
ual intercourse between the peoples of this continent. It is the 
purpose of this Department to spare no pains to this end, if 
the course shall be found to have the favor of Congress. 

The great gain which would surely follow such a system with 
the Republics of Uruguay and the Argentine Confederation 
furnish additional reasons for the provision of a direct mail 
between those countries and ours. 

The natural ending of the Post-Office Depart- 
ment is 

The Dead-Letter Office. 

The Dead-Letter Office was placed under charge of a super- 
intendent at the beginning of the year, as a separate office, 
pursuant to the Act of Congress authorizing its detachment from 
the office of the Third Assistant. From the report of the Super- 
intendent it appears that the work of this office has considerably 
increased. 

During the year 5,578,965 pieces of mail matter were treated, 
increasing by 11. 4 percent, over 1886 and by about 17 percent, 
over 1885. This increase is in part attributable to the enlarged 
volume of mail matter transported, and partly to the greater 
care taken by postmasters in rendering returns of undelivered 
matter and withdrawing from the mails such as is unmailable. 

Among the interesting items of the work performed it is to 
be noted that 456,183 pieces of mail arriving from foreign lands 
were returned to the country of origin ; that 12,725 letters, in- 
closing in the aggregate $22,639.12, and 21,868 letters contain- 
ing drafts, notes, checks, money-orders, etc., of the amount in 
face value of $7,581,761.10, were restored to the owners. 

There was derived to the postal revenue from dead mail mat- 
ter the sum of $9,593.77, $714.48 in excess of the previous year. 

Magazines, pamphlets, and other reading matter incapable of 
return, have been distributed to the various charitable institu- 
tions in the District of Columbia, in all 18,182 pieces. 

In closing this most interesting summary of the 
work of the Post-Office Department it will be re- 



170 



THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET. 



membered that it was first under the administration 
of Colonel Vilas, now Secretary of the Interior 
Department, and that Mr. Dickinson has entered 
with energy upon the work so well started. The 
present Postmaster-General is the author of the 
very important bill now before Congress to provide 
separate small post-offices throughout the country 
at an actual saving to the Government and confer- 
ring a benefit upon our people which is sure to be 
appreciated. In no way could we have presented 
more clearly to our readers the progress made by 
the various Departments under the present admin- 
istration than by thus showing that the Post-Office 
Department has accomplished more work at less 
cost and to the better satisfaction of the entire na- 
tion than has ever been done before. 



CHAPTER X. 

THE DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR. 

The Secretary of the Interior is charged with the 
supervision of public business relating to patents 
for inventions ; pension and bounty lands ; the pub- 
lic lands, including mines ; the Indians ; education ; 
railroads ; the public surveys ; the census, when 
directed by law ; the custody and distribution of 
public documents ; and certain hospitals and elee- 
mosynary institutions in the District of Columbia. 
He also exercises certain powers and duties in 
relation to the Territories of the United States. 

THE SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR. 

William F. Vilas 

was born at Chelsea, Vt., July 9, 1840. He removed 
with his parents, in 185 1, to Madison, Wis., gradu- 
ated from the Wisconsin State University in 1858, 
and from the law school, Albany, N.Y., in i860, 
when he was admitted to the Wisconsin bar, and 
entered upon the practice of the law at Madison. 
In 1862 Mr. Vilas raised a company of volunteers, 



172 THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET. 

and joined the Twenty-third Wisconsin Regiment as 
captain in March, 1863 ; was promoted to lieuten- 
ant-colonel, and had command of his regiment during 
the siege of Vicksburg and for two months after- 
wards. Resigned his commission in 1863, and re- 
newed the practice of his profession at Madison. 
He was appointed lecturer in the Department of 
Law, Wisconsin State University, and was a member 
of the Board of Regents of that institution, from 
1875 to 1878. 

By appointment of the Supreme Court of the 
State of Wisconsin, Col. Vilas was one of the revi- 
sers of the statutes of the State. 

In 1884 he was chairman of the Democratic 
National Committee. It has been generally con- 
ceded at home that Col. Vilas was the leader of the 
Madison bar, and he was recognized as one of 
the most able and eloquent advocates of Wiscon- 
sin. His reputation as an orator began with his 
famous eulogy of Grant at the Chicago banquet. 
Col. Vilas is a man of genuine brilliancy, and of 
great abilities as a lawyer and a scholar, and his 
selection by President Cleveland as Postmaster-Gen- 
eral was universally applauded. Upon the selection 
of Secretary Lamar to fill a seat on the supreme 
bench, Mr. Cleveland appointed Col. Vilas Secre- 
tary of the Interior. He has entered upon his 
duties with his usual conscientious energy, and the 
large portion of our people who are interested in 



THE DEPARTS EXT OF THE INTERIOR. 173 

the work of the Interior Department can form their 
conclusions as to its progress from the statements 
which follow. 

The work of this department comprises the most 
important interests of the country, and it is quite 
impossible to do more than refer to such offices and 
bureaus as have charge of the leading subjects to 
which attention should be called. 

THE TATENT OFFICE. 

In this important bureau of the Interior Depart- 
ment, as in the other departments of the Govern- 
ment, we see the same salutary reforms and changes 
which have characterized the advent of the present 
Administration. 

The country was met with what seemed to be a 
very plausible and vehement objection at first, that 
a change of administration would work disastrously 
to the business of the departments and bureaus. It 
was charged that turning out old and trusted offi- 
cials, and putting in new ones, would have the effect 
of impairing the public service. 

Time has contradicted these misgivings and fore- 
bodings, that a change would impair the public ser- 
vice ; and it is confidently claimed that in no bureau 
has such a charge been more plainly and clearly 
contradicted, than in the Patent Office. Not only 
has the public business of this office not been in the 
least lessened, or the efficiency of the public service 
impaired, but, on the other hand, we see a steady 
growth, both of the business of the office, and the 
respect in which it is held by the inventors of the 



174 THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET. 

country ; and that this steady growth, this keeping 
up in its full vigor the business of the office, has 
been accomplished under many disadvantageous 
circumstances. 

During President Cleveland's administration, the 
records as seen from time to time in the reports of 
both the Hon. M. V. Montgomery, the first Com- 
missioner of Patents under President Cleveland's 
administration, and the Hon. Benton J. Hall, the 
present incumbent, give a most satisfactory and 
creditable showing of the condition of affairs in the 
Patent Office. 

Mr. Montgomery succeeded Hon. Benjamin But- 
terworth ; and it will be seen, that, with about the 
same force, and lessened expenditure, more business 
was transacted from 1885 up to the end of his offi- 
cial incumbency than was ever before transacted in 
the same time in the history of the Patent Office. It 
will also be seen, from his annual report to Congress, 
that the number of applications, and the number of 
patents granted, was largely in excess of applications 
received and patents granted by his predecessor ; and 
that he transacted a larger amount of business, and 
turned into the treasury over fifty-seven thousand 
dollars more than was turned in by the preceding 
Commissioner of Patents. 

It should also be noted, that, for the first six 
months of the fiscal year of 1886, the Commissioner 
of Patents covered into the United States Treasury 
$114,899.74, which was a greater surplus for six 
months than for the entire year of 1884, and that 
the applications for patents exceeded those for the 
same period by nearly two thousand. 

The undisputed concurrent testimony of the ofifi- 



THE DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR. 175 

cers of the bureau, a large per cent of whom are 
Republicans holding over from old Republican admin- 
istrations, shows that the bureau has never before in 
the history of the office done so much work, at so 
small an expense, and with the same official and 
clerical help, as under the administration of the 
Hon. Benton J. Hall. And it is proper here to say 
that he has shown rare skill in the management 
of the Patent Office ; and when it is remembered 
that probably seventy per cent of the officials 
under him, and upon whom he must rely largely 
in the direction of the duties pertaining to the 
office, hold political views different from his own, 
it is a worthy tribute to his efficiency and sterling 
executive worth that he should have enlisted the 
cordial co-operation of this force in the many valu- 
able suggestions and reforms made and inaugurated 
by himself. 

The decisions of this commissioner, by the uni- 
versal consent of the bar of the district, and by the 
attorneys practising before the office, representing 
as they do the interests of the thousands of invent- 
ors all over the country, take a high rank. Indeed, 
so marked has been the judicial ability displayed by 
Commissioner Hall, that it has drawn from the lead- 
ing papers of the Republican party many worthy 
tributes to this efficient and scholarly official. Prom- 
inent among the notices in the Republican papers of 
Mr. Hall's rare efficiency and capacity, is one taken 
from the " New York Tribune " of Oct. 1, 1887, and 
voices probably the sentiments of all. This article 
is printed in the " Scientific American," one of the 
ablest industrial journals in the world, with added 
editorial comments of a high character. It says, — 



176 THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET. 

" In brief, he seems to recognize the fact that the Patent Office 
is not a political office ; that it is supported by the men of a par- 
ticular class, the inventors, — so well supported, in short, that the 
yearly dividend of twenty per cent is. realized from the fees paid in, 
while there is an accumulated surplus of three millions of dollars 
in the treasury. 

" Every week's issue of the ' Official Gazette ' contains from 
one to three of the commissioner's decisions on points of office 
practice, designed to bring uniformity in the same among the 
different divisions. If the story told by the attorneys is to be 
believed, something of that kind is badly needed." 

The "Scientific American" then proceeds to add 
editorially, — 

" The encomium of the ' Tribune ' on Commissioner Hall is 
just, and reminds one of the patent-office administration under the 
commissionerships of Judge Mason and Judge Holt, which was a 
good while ago, but whom the few of us live to remember with 
satisfaction." 

In this necessarily brief notice space is not per- 
mitted to mention the many able and valuable decis- 
ions of Commissioner Hall, touching as they do the 
direct and varied interests of the tens of thousands 
of inventors throughout the country. It is a worthy- 
tribute to President Cleveland's selection of this able 
official to refer in this connection to the many 
reforms recommended in the Patent Office by 
Commissioner Hall ; foremost of which, and as 
forming a part of the issues to which the public 
mind will be directed in the coming campaign, is the 
abuse of organized wealth and corporate power as 
they affect the actual workings of the Patent Office 
which the commissioner has striven to remedy. 

Corporate power, grown to an alarming size dur- 
ing the past quarter of a century by special class 



THE DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR. IJJ 

legislation, and the many privileges given to it during 
the Republican regime, has pushed its baleful influ- 
ences even into the industrial arts. 

For years it has been known that the real in- 
ventors of the country, most of them humble but 
skilled mechanics in the industrial arts, have utterly 
failed to secure the benefits of their inventive genius. 
Seldom has it been that the real inventor has reaped 
the harvest of his patience and his skill. It has 
been seen that the influence and greed of corporate 
power, with its restless and corrupting energies, have 
been specially directed to the monopolization of 
labor-saving devices in all branches of mechanics ; 
so that it can be said to control, and, in fact, has 
aggregated to itself by the use of enormous capital, 
the skill of the inventive genius of the country. 
Almost every invention, representing years of some 
ingenious mechanic's life, is immediately seized upon 
by some monopoly or other, the interest of the in- 
ventor bought for a song, and the benefits of the 
invention, which the spirit of the patent laws intended 
should go to the public at large, have been held 
for the advantage of the special few, to be doled out 
by corporations to the general public at enormous 
profits to the managers. 

The cause of general industry gains nothing. 
Labor where it has thus been controlled by corpora- 
tions has received no substantial benefits from inven- 
tion, and capital organized against the interests of 
the masses received the enormous gains which have 
made these monopolies threatening factors in social 
and political life, inimical to the interests of the 
masses of the laboring people. 

Commissioner Hall, among other valuable sug- 



178 THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET 

gestions for reform, referring to the corrupt power 
of corporate wealth, and the pernicious influences of 
its presence in the Patent Office, said in his annual 
report for the year ending December, 1887, when 
the consideration of section 4894 of the Revised 
Statutes was before him, that this section of the 
statute enables rich and influential parties to keep 
the applications for patents, of which they are the 
assignees, pending in the office for years before 
their patent is issued. In the mean time, they are 
engaged in manufacturing and putting upon the 
market the article or improvement, but warning 
the public that the patent is " applied for ; " the effect 
of which is to give them the absolute control of 
the monopoly of the invention, and to deter all 
other inventors from entering the same field of 
invention, and manufacturing the same article. The 
commissioner, seeing the danger which must inevi- 
tably result to the inventive talent of the country 
from this illegitimate use of wealth and corporate 
power, recommended to Congress that this section 
should be modified, and that there be vested in the 
commissioner a discretion to declare any application 
forfeited for want of prosecution whenever he is 
satisfied that such should be done. This suggestion 
promptly acted upon will go far towards checking the 
domination of capital over the development of 
the industrial arts. It would be a step in the direc- 
tion of freeing the laboring classes, out of which 
comes the inventive skill and genius of a nation, 
from being the mental slaves of powerful corpora- 
tions. 

The work of the Patent Office for the year 1887 
can be best understood from the following detail. 



THE DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR. 



179 



Receipts from applications 
" " copies 

" " deeds 

" " " Gazette " 

" labels . 

Total income 



$1,0x4,265 00 

83,267 40 

23,416 70 

14,402 53 

2,9°3 5° 

$1,138,255 13 



For the six months ending June 30, 1888, there 
were received 86,080 letters, containing- in money 
$508,091.26. The whole business of this important 
office has been conducted with more celerity, less 
proportional expense, and to the better satisfaction 
of patentees than ever before ; and we may look 
forward, under another four years of the present 
Administration, to results which will prove the 
wisdom of the Executive in managing all depart- 
ments upon business principles. 



THE PENSION BUREAU. 

The work of this important bureau is perhaps 
more closely connected with the hearts and homes 
of our people than any other. It is a great monu- 
ment to those who have sacrificed their lives for 
the liberties of the nation. It represents an act of 
national justice hitherto unparalleled in the world's 
history. Through its action the widow and the 
orphan receive that proper recognition for the ser- 
vices of the husband and father, which a grateful 
nation will render so long as they live to re- 
ceive it. 

It is a satisfaction to state that under the present 
administration the work of this bureau has in every 
respect progressed in such a manner as to win 
admiration from all those who have any idea of 



180 THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET 

what has been done in the Pension Bureau since 
March 16, 1885 ; and a comparison may fairly be 
challenged in the number of pensions granted, in 
the laree number of veterans who have had their 
pensions increased, in the extraordinary work of 
the office, through its Special Examination Division, 
in making that critical examination of the rights of 
claimants at their homes and elsewhere all over the 
country. 

Since the present administration of the office up 
to the 15th day of June, 1888, a period of three 
years and three months, the enormous number of 
one hundred and sixty-seven thousand new names 
have been added to the pension rolls of the nation, 
and more than one hundred and thirty-eight thou- 
sand scarred veterans have had their pensions 
increased. In the rapid movement of events we 
hardly have time to pause and reflect upon what 
this indicates ; viz., that an army larger than the 
combined armies of Wellington and Napoleon at 
Waterloo have received through the magnificent 
liberality of the Government of these United States 
its generous bounty, and that this large additional 
amount has been granted under the present admin- 
istration, thus affording additional proof (if it were 
needed) that the Democratic party is true to the 
memory of those who fought their country's battles, 
true to those who upheld the old flag in the fiery 
storm of war. 

It must be borne in mind, that, with these gratify- 
ing results and this greatly increased work, the 
clerical force of the Bureau of Pensions remains 
the same as it was at the commencement of the 
present Administration. 



THE DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR. 181 



CIVIL SERVICE. 

The whole force is subject to the rules and regula- 
tions governing the civil service. No appointments 
are made, nor have any been made, in this bureau 
except through the avenue of civil service exam- 
inations and certification. At the time the present 
Commissioner of Pensions assumed charge of the 
bureau, he found ninety-five per cent of this clerical 
force selected from that political party antagonistic 
to the present Administration, nearly all of whom 
were appointed regardless of civil service qualifi- 
cations. New appointments, however, have been 
made only through the channel of civil service 
examination, and with most gratifying results ; and 
of the original ninety-five per cent, it is safe to 
assert that at least seventy-five per cent still remain 
undisturbed at their desks. No discharges have 
been made except in cases of gross inefficiency, 
neglect of duty, or evidences of partisanship incom- 
patible with the efficient administration of the office. 
The Pension Bureau during the current year will 
distribute the immense sum of eighty millions of 
the people's money, payable to over four hundred 
and sixteen thousand pensioners. This great work 
will be accomplished at far less expense than ever 
before ; for the reason that in this bureau, as in all 
others under the present Administration, the work 
is being done for the first time upon business princi- 
ples, thus securing a larger amount of labor upon a 
more economic and satisfactory basis. In this con- 
nection it is but just to allude to the attempts made 
by pension sharks to introduce fraudulent claims ; 
thus not only doing injury to those who are justly 



1 82 THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET. 

entitled to their country's bounty, but at the same 
time casting a stigma upon the fair name of the 
nation. To every sensible man or woman who 
reads this article, the action of the President in 
putting his veto upon all such attempts to defraud 
the Government and the people can admit of but 
one construction ; viz., that in Grover Cleveland we 
have secured a President who devotes himself 
steadily to but one object^and that is the good of 
this nation, and to prove to his fellow-citizens that 
" a public office is a public trust." 

THE GENERAL LAND-OFFICE. 

The Commissioner of Public Lands is charged 
with the survey, management, and sale of the public 
domain, and the issuing of titles therefor, whether 
derived from confirmations of grants made by former 
governments, by sales, donations, or grants for 
schools, railroads, military bounties, or public im- 
provements. He is aided by an assistant commis- 
sioner. The Land-Office audits its own accounts. 

The great importance of this bureau in its relation 
to the progress of our country cannot be overesti- 
mated. Its energies have been devoted, during the 
present administration, to remedy defects and cor- 
rect abuses in the public land service. The results 
of these efforts are so largely in the nature of 
reforms in the processes and methods of our land 
system as to prevent adequate estimate ; but it 
appears, from the latest official statement, that there 
has been secured and restored to the public domain, 
and recommended for recovery, from March 4, 1885, 
to May 12, 1888, as follows: — 



THE DEPARTJfENT OF THE INTERIOR. 183 

Total actually restored to the public domain, and 
opened to entry and settlement, 80,690,720 acres. 
It must be borne in mind that these lands are se- 
cured from railroad forfeitures, indemnity lands, illegal 
land claims, and withdrawn lands restored ; thus 
offering to the farmer and emigrant an opportunity 
to secure a comfortable home, and at the same time 
adding to our national territory an extent of valuable 
property which would otherwise have been controlled 
by trusts, syndicates, or corporations. In addition 
to this great work, there has been accomplished also 
an examination of other lands, which will fall under 
the same rules, and which will restore an additional 
extent of territory, amounting to 65,020,538 acres. 
This immense territory, comprising lands most favor- 
able for settlement, can accommodate all the emi- 
grants which are likely to arrive in this country 
within the next twenty years ; and we may look 
forward to another advance in civilization through 
farms, villages, towns, and cities, secured by the 
work of the Land-Office under the present Adminis- 
tration, and at a less proportionate cost than under 
any previous Administration since the commence- 
ment of our government. 

INDIAN OFFICE. 

The important question of the management of our 
Indians is one that has given much trouble and 
embarrassment to this department. The expenses 
attending such management have been very great, 
and yet the ultimate results have been so unsatisfac- 
tory as to occasion much public and private comment. 
Following - out the suggestions of the President in his 



1 84 THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET. 

annual message, the work of the Indian office has 
been more carefully attended to under this Adminis- 
tration, and with the result that the condition of our 
Indian population, and the progress of the work for 
their enlightenment, is a gratifying and hopeful one. 
And when it is understood that this has been accom- 
plished at a saving to the nation in the estimates 
for the year of over four hundred thousand dollars, 
our fellow-citizens will certainly appreciate the steady 
and unwearied efforts of the present Administration 
to carry on its work upon a business basis. 

In addition to the above, the Department of the 
Interior has control of the management of such 
railroads as are in whole or in part west, north, or 
south of the Missouri River, and to which the 
United States have granted any loan of credit or 
subsidy in lands or bonds. Also it has charge of 
the Geological Survey, comprising the classification 
of the public lands, and examination of the geologi- 
cal structure, mineral resources, and products of the 
national domain ; and finally this department has 
charge of the supervision of the census of the 
United States, which is taken every tenth year, and 
the subsequent arrangement, compilation, and pub- 
lication of the statistics collected. It is a gratifying 
statement, that, under the present Administration, the 
immense labor connected with this department has 
been faithfully conducted at less proportionate ex- 
pense than ever before, and with results which are 
universally admitted to be far more satisfactory than 
could have been expected in so short a time. With 
another four years of the same capable management, 
we may look forward to results of even greater im- 
portance. 



THE DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR. ^5 



THE BUREAU OF EDUCATION. 

The names of Horace Mann, Henry Barnard, and 
John Eaton are substantial guarantees that the sub- 
ject of education, in its connection with the present 
and future welfare of the growing youth of the 
nation, has been well cared for. In Col. N. H. R. 
Dawson, the present commissioner, and his able 
corps of assistants, we have every reason to look 
forward to a continuation of the QT>od work so well 
begun. As may be clearly understood from the 
peculiar and special character of the work of this 
office, its employes have always been selected spe- 
cially with reference to their qualifications and intelli- 
gence, and possibly to a greater extent than has 
prevailed in the general clerical service of the 
government. The late commissioner, Gen. Eaton, 
was in control of this bureau for sixteen years, and 
his careful selection of his subordinates, and their 
retention in office by his successor, under the rules 
of merit service, has secured the best work being 
accomplished with the limited force in hand. The 
special object of this bureau is to inform the public 
as to the advancement of education in the United 
States, and this is done through an annual report, 
which contains all data up to the time of issue. 
This annual report comprises the general statistics 
as regards education in the United States, including 
State school systems with all the facts as to popula- 
tion and percentage of school attendance, which have 
shown a most gratifying steady increase from year 
to year ; statistics regarding teachers and their 



I 86 THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET. 

salaries in different States ; the various State laws 
relative to education, with public-school receipts and 
expenditures, are also fully given in detail. The 
city school systems are then taken up, and the most 
complete and reliable information supplied upon this 
important subject. The training of teachers, nor- 
mal schools, kindergartens, superior instruction of 
women, statistics regarding colleges, universities, 
schools of science, and technological schools, all 
receive due attention. A separate chapter is devoted 
to professional instruction, comprising all informa- 
tion regarding schools of theology, law, medicine, 
dentistry, and pharmacy, and a statistical summary 
of all degrees conferred. The subject of special 
training comprises much of interest, taking in as it 
does all that relates to industrial and manual training- 
schools, military schools, commercial and business 
colleges, together with training-schools for nurses. 
Upon the education of special classes full reports 
will be found supplying interesting statistics con- 
nected with the deaf and dumb, blind, feeble-minded, 
and juvenile delinquents ; also, the education of 
the colored race and that of the Indian. These 
reports are supplied freely to the public, and should 
be secured by all interested. They will be found of 
special value as works of reference in our city, town, 
and village libraries. A very interesting statement 
bearing upon foreign education is included, and also 
a report upon the success in the attempts to intro- 
duce education anions the Indians in Alaska, which 
far-off section of our great country is in the special 
charge of the Bureau of Education. Under the 
present commissioner all these reports have been 



THE DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR. igy 

brought forward and published up to the latest date 
possible, and our readers will find in this collection 
a vast amount of interesting information. Several 
very important and special pamphlets have also been 
prepared and published by this bureau, viz. : Pro- 
ceedings of the department of superintendence of 
the National Educational Association, February 2- 
26, 1886, and of the same association March 15-17, 
1887. Many of the papers read at these meetings 
are of absorbing interest, and we would specially call 
the attention of our readers to an illustrated article 
relating to Alaska, and what has been done there in 
connection with education and civilization. The 
Educational Bureau has also published a most elab- 
orate and important essay upon " The Study of His- 
tory in American Colleges and Universities," an 
interesting account of William and Mary College, of 
Virginia, and a complete catalogue of all the libraries 
in the United States. Commissioner Dawson, under 
instructions from the Interior Department, made a 
personal visit to Alaska, establishing many schools, 
and otherwise aiding the efforts of those interested 
in the civilization of these comparatively new citi- 
zens of the United States. He had the good fortune 
to be present at the new settlement of the native 
Indians from Metlakahtla, whose fate has attracted 
so much attention during the past year. It will be 
remembered that they were so harshly treated under 
the rules of the British government and the church 
authorities that Mr. William Duncan, the distin- 
guished English missionary, decided to place them 
under the protection of the American flag. The 
following description of the exercises upon the occa- 



iSS THE PRESIDENT AND HIS OABINET. 

sion of locating their new home will be found spe- 
cially interesting - . 

The day was a perfect one, and the visitors were at once put 
on shore. A more lovely place than this harbor it is impossi- 
ble to imagine. It is semi-circular in shape, opening out 
through a number of small islands to the westward. On the 
east and north were wild, rugged mountains, coming down to 
the water's edge, and on the south is a low green shore, skirted 
by a gravel beach that winds in and out in beautiful curves. 
The place was entirely uninhabited, except by thirty or forty of 
the men of Metlakahtla, with their families, who had come on 
as an advance guard. The remainder, in all about one thousand 
people, men, women, and children, will come as soon as provis- 
ion can be made for them and the means of transportation 
shall arrive. 

The exercises were impromptu, and Mr. Duncan first ad- 
dressed his people in their native tongue. He told them of his 
trip to the United States, and concluded by introducing Hon. 
N. H. R. Dawson, the United States Commissioner of Educa- 
tion, then upon an official tour of Alaska, who had kindly con- 
sented to make an address upon this occasion. In Mr. Daw- 
son's address, interpreted by Mr. Duncan into the native 
language, for the benefit of those who did not understand 
English, they were impressively told of the power and glory of 
the great American government, under whose protection they 
were coming, and were assured that when its flag was raised 
over them they would be protected in their lives and liberties, 
that their homes and lands would be assured to them, and that 
their education and welfare would be the cherished care of the 
great government to which they had intrusted themselves. 

He congratulated them upon their advent to American soil, 
and assured them that they would have the sympathy and pro- 
tection of the government in their new homes, and that, 
although the general land laws of the United States were not 
now in force in the Territory, that they would not be disturbed 
in the use and possession of any lands upon which they might 
settle and build houses, but that when those laws were extended 
over the country they would doubtless be allowed to enter and 
purchase these lands and hold possession of them in preference 



THE DEPARTMENT OE THE INTERIOR. 



189 



to others. In the meantime they would have the same advan- 
tages of education open to them which are now extended to all 
the inhabitants of the Territory. Efforts had been made to 
impress them with the idea that the American government was 
unfriendly and would show them no kindness. This impression 
Mr. Dawson successfully dispelled in his address, which was re- 
ceived with great satisfaction by the Indians. When he con- 
cluded, the flags were raised, the ship saluting them as they 
went up with its battery of one gun. The natives then sang 
" Rock of Ages," exquisitely, in their native tongue. Rev. Dr. 
Fraser, of San Francisco, in a touching prayer, then commended 
the new settlement to the protection of Divine Providence, 
after which all united in singing old "Coronation." One of 
the principal chiefs, or selectmen, Daniel Ne-ash-kum-ack-kem, 
then replied to Mr. Dawson's address in a short speech, as 
follows : — 

" Chiefs, I have a few words of truth to let you know what 
our hearts are saying. The God of heaven is looking at our 
doings here to-day. You have stretched out your hands to the 
Tsein-she-ans. Your act is a Christian act. We have long 
bejn knocking at the door of another government for justice, 
but the door has been closed against us. You have risen up 
and opened your door to us, and bid us welcome to this beauti- 
ful spot, upon which we propose to erect our homes. What can 
our hearts say to this, but that we are thankful and happy ! 
The work of the Christian is never lost. Your work will not 
be lost to you. It will live, and you will find it after many 
days. We are here only a few to-day who have been made 
happy by your words ; but when your words reach all of our 
people, numbering over a thousand, how much more joy will 
they occasion ! What shall we say further to thank you ? We 
were told that there were no slaves under the flag of England. 
For a long time our hearts relied on this as the truth. We were 
content and happy ; but we now find that our reliance has been 
misplaced. These promises have been broken ; that nation 
has set at naught its own laws in its treatment of us, and is 
dealing with us as with slaves. We come to you for protection 
and safety. Our hearts, though often troubled, have not 
fainted. We have trusted in God, and he has helped us. We 
are now able to sleep in peace. Our confidence is restored. 
God has given us his strength to reach this place of security 



!O0 THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET. 

and freedom, and we are grateful to him for his mercy and 
loving kindness. We again salute you from our hearts. I 
have no more to say." 

At the conclusion of this reply, which was delivered in the 
musical intonations of his native tongue, with a grace and elo- 
quence that did credit to the picturesque forum in which he 
stood, Dr. Fraser gave the benediction. The passengers and 
natives then joined in one rousing cheer for the old flag, that 
must have impressed the Metlakahtlans with the fervor and zeal 
of American patriotism. 



CHAPTER XL 

THE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE. 

The attorney-general is the head of the Depart- 
ment of Justice, and the chief law officer of the 
government. He represents the United States in 
matters involving legal questions ; he gives his 
advice and opinions on questions of law when they 
are required by the President or by the heads of 
the other executive departments on questions of law 
arising upon the administration of their respective 
departments ; he exercises a general superintendence 
and direction over United States attorneys and mar- 
shals in all judicial districts in the States and Terri- 
tories, and he provides special counsel for the 
United States whenever required by any department 
of the government. 

THE ATTORNEY-GENERAL. 
Augustus H. Garland. 

A. H. Garland was born in Tipton Co., Term., 

June ii, 1832. In the following year his parents 

191 



!Q2 THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET. 

removed to Arkansas. Mr. Garland graduated at 
St. Joseph College, Bardstown, Ky., in 1849. He 
studied law, and after his admission to the bar set- 
tled in the practice of his profession at Little Rock, 
Ark. 

He opposed the early movements of the South 
at the commencement of the civil war, but event- 
ually joined his State, Arkansas, in its connection 
with the Confederacy, and served in the Confederate 
congress. At the close of the war, Mr. Garland was 
chosen United States senator, but was refused 
admission. After serving as Secretary of State for 
Arkansas he was elected Governor, in 1874, and in 
1876 was elected to represent the same State in the 
United States Senate for a term of six years, from 
March, 1877. In 1882 he was reelected for another 
term, receiving not only the entire vote of his own 
party, but also that of the Republicans in the State 
Legislature, only three votes being cast against him. 
In March, 1885, ne was appointed attorney-general 
of the United States, and took his seat in the Cabinet 
of President Cleveland. 

Judge Garland, while in the United States Senate, 
enjoyed the confidence and respect of all his col- 
leagues. He was indefatigable in committee work, 
and his legal knowledge and judicial impartiality 
made him one of the strongest and most influential 



THE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE. io ^ 

members of the judiciary committee. In debate he 
has always been a strong, forcible speaker, his nota- 
ble characteristics being, first, conciseness and per- 
spicuity of statement ; second, logical order of argu- 
ment ; and, third, power of condensation, — all qualities 
specially fitting him to occupy the chair of the 
Department of Justice, the work of which office is 
herewith given. 

We find on examination that in this department, 
as in all others, there has been a steady gain and 
improvement not only in the amount of work done, 
but also that for the first time laws have been 
actually put in force under the present administration 
which have heretofore been allowed to remain dor- 
mant. That some idea may be arrived at as regards 
the importance and extent of this department, ex- 
tracts are made from the last official report of the 
attorney-general. 

BUSINESS OF THE COURT OF CLAIMS. 

Since the last report 449 suits, claiming upward of $4,150,000, 
have been brought under the ordinary jurisdiction of the court. 

The total number of such cases now pending is 1,110, claim- 
ing upward of $18,250,000. 

Under the act of March 3, 1883, known as the " Bowman act," 
there have been transmitted to the court, to date, 2,038 cases. 
The amount claimed cannot be stated, but involves a very large 
sum. 

During the last term 147 of these cases, claiming about 
$1,260,000, were acted on by the court and reported to Con- 



!04 THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET. 

gress. Of this number, 34 cases, aggregating upward of 
$670,000, were dismissed for want of jurisdiction. 

In 63 cases the findings of the court were favorable to claim- 
ants, but for reduced amounts. 

There are now pending about 1,819 cases, involving, in so far 
as can be ascertained from the petitions and other papers re- 
ceived, upward of $50,000,000. 

Under the same act there have been transmitted by heads of 
departments, to date, 29 claims, amounting in the aggregate to 
upward of $4,000,000. One case, claiming $1,226,804.81, with 
interest, was acted on by the court during the term, and a find- 
ing for $249,000 certified to the department transmitting the 
claim. 

Nine cases, claiming about $350,000, are now pending, one of 
which has been submitted, and is now held under advisement by 
the court. 

There are also pending matters entertained by the court 
under the provisions of section 2 of said act. 

FRENCH SPOLIATIONS. 

The petitions filed in French spoliations cases number 5,560, 
representing 2,386 vessels, and about $30,000,000. Thirteen 
cases arising upon four vessels were reported by the court, with 
favorable recommendations, to Congress on December 6, 1886. 

Sixty-eight additional cases arising upon 29 vessels have 
been passed upon by the court in favor of claimants and will 
be reported to Congress at its next session. 

Twelve cases, upon 12 vessels have been decided against the 
claimants; 200 additional are now on trial. 

The amount reported in favor of claimants in all the 81 cases 
passed upon, in the aggregate, is about $425,000, varying in 
sums from $66.40 to $45,318.66. 

The general principles involved in these cases have been 
fully discussed, and four opinions have been delivered by the 
court, settling some of the important questions governing them. 

The following is a summary of the business of the last term : 

CLAIMS AGAINST THE UNITED STATES. 

There were brought to trial 314 suits, claiming $18,551,605.58. 
In 24 of these, claiming $105,595.66, judgment was for defend- 
ants. 



THE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE. jgt; 

In 290 suits, claiming $18,446,009.92, judgment was for 
claimants for $3,409,953.21. In this sum is embraced the 
amount of $2,858,798.62, the judgment in the case of the 
Choctaw Indians, which was rendered in the Supreme Court 
and ordered by mandate from that court to be entered in the 
Court of Claims. 

Two suits, claiming $662.26, were discontinued on claimants' 
motion. 

CRIMINAL PROSECUTIONS. 

There were terminated during the last year 12,905 criminal 
prosecutions ; 227 of these were prosecutions under the customs 
laws, in which there were 120 convictions, 27 acquittals, and 80 
were entered not. pros., discontinued, or quashed; 5,064 under 
the internal revenue laws, in which were 3,100 convictions, 803 
acquittals, and 1,161 were entered nol.pros., discontinued, or 
quashed; 540 under post-office laws, in which there were 302 
convictions, 115 acquittals, and 123 entered nol.pros., discon- 
tinued, or quashed; 96 under election laws, in which there 
were 45 convictions, 13 acquittals, and 38 entered nol. pros., 
discontinued, or quashed; six under the civil rights acts, in 
which there were — convictions, 2 acquittals, and 4 entered nol. 
pros., discontinued, or quashed ; 298 under intercourse acts, in 
which there were 260 convictions, 9 acquittals, and 29 entered 
nol pros., discontinued, or quashed; 175 under the pension 
laws, in which there were 77 convictions, 27 acquittals, and 71 
entered nol. pros., discontinued, or quashed; 36 for embezzle- 
ment, in which there were 14 convictions, 6 acquittals, and 16 
entered nol.pros., discontinued, or quashed; 6,463 miscellane- 
ous prosecutions, in which there were 4,080 convictions, 1,348 
acquittals, 1,035 entered nol.pros., discontinued, or quashed. 

In many of the prosecutions under the internal revenue laws 
entered nol. pros., discontinued, or quashed, a compromise and 
settlement were made in the internal revenue bureau of the 
treasury department. 



Among- subjects of special interest to the people 
of the United States we can refer with satisfaction to 
the action of the Department of Justice in connection 



196 



THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET. 



with laws against Mormonism which have been on 
our statute books for many years and which had 
been practically ignored until the advent of the pres- 
ent administration, when, under the special direction 
of the President, they have been put in force with 
the result that offenders have been tried and pun- 
ished, and that the Mormons themselves, in many 
instances, admit the justice of the acts of the govern- 
ment and govern themselves accordingly. The pros- 
ecution of timber thieves has been carried out with 
such vigilance that in a larcre measure the terrible 
inroads made upon the property of the nation have 
been put a stop to and the offenders brought to jus- 
tice. In this connection we close with the views of 
the President relative to this department, as stated 
in his message to Congress indicating the improve- 
ments suggested by the attorney-general. 

The conduct of the Department of Justice for the last fiscal 
year is fully detailed in the report of the attorney-general, and 
I invite the earnest attention of the Congress to the same, and 
due consideration of the recommendations*therein contained. 

In the report submitted by this officer to the last session of 
the Congress he strongly recommended the erection of a peni- 
tentiary for the confinement of prisoners convicted and sen- 
tenced in the United States courts ; and he repeats the recom- 
mendation in his report for the last year. 

This is a matter of very great importance and should at once 
receive Congressional action. United States prisoners are now 
confined in more than thirty different State prisons and peniten- 
tiaries scattered in every part of the country. They are sub- 
jected to nearly as many different modes of treatment and 
discipline and are far too much removed from the control and 
regulation of the government. So far as they are entitled to 
humane treatment and an opportunity for improvement and ref- 
ormation, the government is responsible to them and society 
that these things are forthcoming. But this duty can scarcely 



THE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE. iqy 

be discharged without more absolute control and direction than 
is possible under the present system. 

Many of our good citizens have interested themselves, with 
the most beneficial results, in the question of prison reform. 
The general government should be in a situation, since there 
must be United States prisoners, to furnish important aid in 
this movement, and should be able to illustrate what may be 
practically done in the direction of this reform and to present 
an example, in the treatment and improvement of its prisoners, 
worthy of imitation. 

With prisons under its own control, the government could 
deal with the somewhat vexed question of convict labor, so far 
as its convicts were concerned, according to a plan of its own 
adoption, and with due regard to the rights and interests of our 
laboring citizens, instead of sometimes aiding in the operation 
of a system which causes among them irritation and discontent. 

Upon consideration of this subject it might be thought wise 
to erect more than one of these institutions, located in such 
places as would best subserve the purposes of convenience and 
economy in transportation. The considerable cost of maintain- 
ing these convicts, as at present, in State institutions, would be 
saved by the adoption of the plan proposed ; and by employing 
them in the manufacture of such articles as were needed for use 
by the government quite a large pecuniary benefit would be 
realized in partial return for our outlay. 

I again urge a change in the federal judicial system to meet 
the wants of the people and obviate the delays necessarily at- 
tending the present condition of affairs in our courts. All are 
agreed that something should be clone, and much favor is shown, 
by those well able to advise, to the plan suggested by the attor- 
ney-general at the last session of the Congress, and recom- 
mended in my last annual message. This recommendation is 
here renewed, together with another made at the same time, 
touching a change in the manner of compensating district at- 
torneys and marshals; and the latter subject is commended to 
the Congress for its action, in the interest of economy to the 
government, and humanity, fairness, and justice to our people. 



193 



THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET. 



DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



The President, in his message to the second ses- 
sion of the Forty-ninth Congress, stated that " the 
Department of Agriculture, representing the oldest 
and largest of our national industries, is subserving 
well the purposes of its organization. By the intro- 
duction of new subjects of farming enterprise, and 
by opening new sources of agricultural wealth, and 
the dissemination of early information concerning 
production and prices, it has contributed largely to 
the country's prosperity. Through this agency, ad- 
vanced thought and investigation touching the sub- 
jects it has in charge should, among other things, 
be practically applied to the home production at a 
low cost of articles of food which are now imported 
from abroad. Such an innovation will necessarily, of 
course, in the beginning be within the domain of in- 
telligent experiment, and the subject in every stage 
should receive all possible encouragement from the 
government." Thus indorsed by the executive, the 
Department of Agriculture, in charge of its experi- 
enced commissioner, Norman J. Colman, has steadily 
progressed under the present administration, to the 
great advantage of our farming population. In May, 
1885, was organized the Dairy Division, for the pur- 
pose of facilitating, in every way possible, the work 
of this great and important industry. A complete 
list was obtained of all those engaged in dairying on 
a large scale, and then a circular was issued and 
widely distributed, with the view of obtaining facts 
and data sufficient to enable the computation to be 



DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



199 



made of the several averages of the yield per cow 
per day, in milk, butter, and cheese, and the average 
value per cow in the different States. The result of 
this inquiry has been to secure, for the first time, a 
mass of most important and reliable information rela- 
tive to all matters connected with the dairy industry. 
This interesting report can be secured by our 
farmers upon writing to the Commissioner of Agri- 
culture. 



BUREAU OF ANIMAL INDUSTRY. 



This highly important bureau was organized June 
1, 1884, with the view of making investigations and 
reports upon the condition, protection, and use of 
the domestic animals of the United States, also as to 
the causes of contagious, infectious, and communica- 
ble diseases among domestic animals, and the means 
for the prevention and cure of the same ; together 
with the direction and management of quarantine 
stations, for imported cattle. Special experienced 
agents are sent to all sections of the country to in- 
vestigate and report upon supposed cases of pleuro- 
pneumonia, and a temporary quarantine of herds 
thus suspected is immediately ordered. The strict- 
est scrutiny is maintained to prevent any violation of 
the quarantine, and to guard against the spread of 
pleuro-pneumonia while it is being extirpated in the 
quarantined district. The great importance of the 
work of this bureau to the interest of the farmer, and 
its successful results so far obtained, are universally 
admitted. The reports already published of the work 
of this bureau should be in the hands of every prac- 



200 THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET. 

tical farmer, as they contain a digest of valuable in- 
formation not to be found elsewhere. 



DIVISION OF ENTOMOLOGY. 

The work of this division covers the securing of 
reliable information upon all that relates to insects 
injurious to agriculture, and also the best means of 
counteracting their ravages. The entomologist, with 
his assistants and field agents, devotes his time to 
giving needed information, in the warfare which the 
cultivators of the soil have constantly to make against 
these injurious insects. The importance of this work 
may best be understood when we consider the vast 
number of insects that affect our agriculture, and the 
immense losses which they occasion ; and in no way 
can this be indicated so clearly as by facts regarding 
losses occasioned by insects, reduced to dollars and 
cents. 

The wheat midge in New York State, 1854, 
caused a loss of fifteen millions of dollars. 

The damage in the Mississippi valley in 1864, 
done by the chinch-bug, amounted to seventy-three 
millions of dollars. 

The Rocky Mountain locust, in 1874, damaged the 
crops of four States to the amount of fifty-six mill- 
ions of dollars. 

The cotton-worm occasioned an average annual 
loss, before the war, of fifteen millions of dollars. 

The most careful estimates here placed the aggre- 
gate annual loss to American agriculture, in its 
broadest sense, from the injuries of insects, at from 
three to four millions of dollars ; a sum which seems 



DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 2 OI 

at first flash so enormous that it strikes one as in- 
accurate ; but, notwithstanding the losses have been 
measurably decreased by important remedial dis- 
coveries, so far as the worst pests are concerned, 
the total loss will still remain enormous. The work 
of this division is best exemplified in the reports 
which it has made, and which are distributed gratui- 
tously by the department. We annex titles of a few 
of these valuable contributions : — 

Insects affecting the orange-tree. 

The cotton-worm. 

The mulberry silk-worm. 

Insects injurious to forest-trees. 

Insects affecting garden crops. 

Insects affecting the hop crop. 

Insects affecting the cranberry crop. 

Together with many others of equal value and 
interest. 

SECTION OF SILK CULTURE. 

To those interested and who have given attention 
to the introduction of the growth and manufacture 
of silk in this country, the subject is one of absorb- 
ing interest, and it properly deserves national atten- 
tion. With everything in our power, climate, man- 
ufacturing facilities, etc., there is every reason to 
believe that within a few years the United States 
will become an important factor in the growth and 
manufacture of silk. In this connection it is satis- 
factory to refer to the good work already accom- 
plished under the above named section. An 
immense correspondence is carried on, and every 
facility afforded in the shape of practical information 
on the subject. 



202 THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET. 

DIVISION OF CHEMISTRY. 

The work of this division has proved of great 
practical service to the country in the analysis made 
of milk, Sorghum cane-juice, beet-juices, etc. The 
experiments in the manufacture of sugar have been 
very interesting, and the reports have been largely 
distributed for the benefit of our farming population. 
Space will not permit our reference to the important 
divisions of botany and ornithology, both of which 
have proved of incalculable value to the general 
interests of our whole country, but the total result of 
the good work of the Department of Agriculture will 
be sufficient evidence to the thinking farmer that 
under the present administration the interests of 
agriculture have not been lost sight of. 



THE DEPARTMENT OF LABOR. 

The bureau of labor was established by act of Con- 
gress, approved June 27, 1884. The commissioner 
of labor is directed by this organic law to collect infor- 
mation upon the subject of labor, its relation to 
capital, the hours of labor, and the earnings of labor- 
ing men and women, and the means of promoting 
their material, social, intellectual, and moral pros- 
perity ; and annually to make a report in writing to 
the Secretary of the Interior of the information col- 
lected and collated by him, and containing such 
recommendations as he may deem calculated to pro- 
mote the efficiency of the bureau. 

Under the present administration the great im- 
portance of this subject of labor has received careful 



THE DEPARTMENT OF LABOR. 203 

consideration, the result being that the bureau has 
been officially raised to a department the general 
design and duties of which shall be to acquire and 
diffuse among the people of the United States useful 
information on subjects connected with labor, in the 
most general and comprehensive sense of that word, 
and especially upon its relation to capital, the hours 
of labor, the earnings of laboring men and women, \ 
and. the means of promoting their material, social, | 
intellectual, and moral prosperity. The commis-^ 
sioner is specially charged to ascertain at as early a 
date as possible, and whenever industrial changes 
shall make it essential, the cost of producing articles 
at the time dutiable in the United States in leading 
countries where such articles are produced by fully 
specified units of production, and under a classifica- 
tion showing the different elements of cost, or ap- 
proximate cost, of such articles of production, 
including the wages paid in such industries per day, 
week, month, or year, or by the piece, and hours 
employed per day, and the profits of the manufac- 
turers and producers of such articles, and the com- 
parative cost of living, and the kind of living. It 
shall be the duty of the commissioner, also, to ascer- 
tain and report as to the effect of the tariff, and the 
effect thereon of the state of the currency, in the , 
United States, on the agricultural industry, especially 
as to its effect on mortgage indebtedness of farmers, 
and what articles are now controlled by trusts, and 
what effect said trusts have had on limiting produc- 
tion and keeping up prices. 

He shall also establish a system of reports by 
which, at intervals of not less than two years, he 



204 



THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET. 



can report the general condition, so far as produc- 
tion is concerned, of the leading industries of the 
country. The commissioner of labor is also spe- 
cially charged to investigate the causes of and facts 
relating to all controversies and disputes between 
employers and employes as they may occur, and 
which may tend to interfere with the welfare of the 
people of the different States, and report thereon to 
Congress. Under the experienced and able man- 
agement of Col. Carroll D. Wright the work of the 
bureau has been carried out in a most successful 
manner, the annual reports supplying the most 
important information from reliable data, giving the 
reasons for industrial depression, the " rights and 
wrongs of convict labor," and " strikes and lockouts 
between January, 1880, and December, 1886." 
This department has now in course of preparation 
reports upon " The Condition of Railroad Employes," 
and " The Condition of Working Women in Thirty 
Leading Cities in the United States." These reports 
have been in great demand, and have been of great 
service in definitely settling questions bearing upon 
work and wages. It would be well if every thinking 
laborer should secure copies for the reading of him- 
self and friends, which will prove to him that there 
has been very great interest taken during the present 
administration in all that relates to the comfort of 
the workingman, and reasonable evidence given that 
under the same state of things there can only be 
progress for the better as these various statistics are 
collected. 



THE GOVERNMENT PRINTING-OFFICE. 205 



THE GOVERNMENT PRINTING-OFFICE. 

Although neither a department nor bureau, this 
office should have some notice as the one from 
which the enormous volume of reports, speeches, 
etc., finds its way all over the United States. 
Under the able management of Mr. Benedict the 
public printer, important results have been secured, 
which compare most favorably with the work done 
under previous Administrations. Some idea of this 
greatly increased work may be gained from the 
following : — 

Copies. 

Copies of speeches and President's message printed 
on private order for Congress, from Dec. 1, 1885, 
to June 1, 1SS6, first session, Forty-ninth Congress, 2,481,880 

Copies of speeches and President's message printed 
on private order for Congress, from Dec. 1, 1887, 
to June 1, 1SS8, first session, Fiftieth Congress . . 5,565,835 

Increase 3>°83>955 

Statement showing the increase in bound con- 
gressional work delivered to Congress this session 
over that of two years ago : — 

Volumes. 

Congressional work bound, complete, and delivered to 

Congress, from July 1, 1885, to June 1, 1886 . . 950,215 

Congressional work bound, complete, and delivered to 

Congress, from July 1, 18S7, to June 1, 1888 . . 1,312,122 

Increase of volumes bound 361,907 

During the year ending June 30, 18S6, 6,094,785 
pounds of printing and writing papers were used. 
This year, up to June 9, a period of eleven months 
and a quarter, 6,226,360 pounds of printing and 
writing papers were used, or an increase of sixty- 



206 THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET. 

five odd tons more for the eleven and a quarter 
months than was used in the whole twelve months 
of 1885-86. 

The result of a recent investigation of this office 
indicates, that notwithstanding" the enormous increase 
in work done, and additional cost of material, a 
saving of $217,000 has been effected, with 303 
less employees. 

THE UNITED STATES CIVIL-SERVICE COMMISSION. 

To establish a reform in the working of a govern- 
ment, is a herculean task ; and where that reform has 
to meet with universal prejudice, it becomes still 
more difficult. Reform in civil service has been the 
bugbear in all governments, and the barnacles of 
red-tape policy cling to their positions with renewed 
strength at every attempt at removal. In this coun- 
try, on the other hand, the trouble has been that the 
service of the nation has suffered from the long- 
established custom of turning out office-holders at 
the beginning of a new administration. Thoughtful 
men, who have given their attention to the subject, 
saw that each year as it rolled around added a num- 
ber of incompetent men to the already overloaded 
rolls of our various departments ; and, having the 
good of the nation in view, an organization has been 
effected for the purification of public offices, and 
reducing the work of the Government to a business 
basis. The result of the influence of this third 
political party has been to establish the Civil-Service 
Commission, having for its object the proper arrange- 
ment and classification of all applications for posi- 
tions ; with the view that there should be no 



THE CIVIL-SERVICE COMMISSION. 207 

complaint as to examinations, sufficient notice is 
given in season for the applicants to be present at 
the locations selected in each State and Territory. 
From the fourth annual report of this commission, 
now passing through the press, we learn, that, during 
the year 1886-87, two hundred and sixty-eight 
examinations were held, the number of applicants 
examined being four thousand three hundred and 
twenty-seven. Of course a large proportion of 
these applicants were examined in Washington, 
to which place they would naturally come seeking 
office. It is a gratifying fact to know, that, accord- 
ing to this last report, a little more than two-thirds 
of those examined passed favorably, and were en- 
tered on the proper lists as available. It can be 
seen at once that by the addition of an experienced 
clerical force the general work of the Government 
w r ould be more faithfully accomplished ; and the 
result, so far as shown in the different departments, 
indicates better work, more rapidity in its comple- 
tion, a less number of employees, and a reduction 
in expense. The total number of appointments in 
the departments under the civil-service rules, during 
the period covered by the report, were five hundred 
and forty-seven ; and a visit to any of our depart- 
ments, bureaus, or offices of the Government will 
satisfy the most incredulous of the great gain that 
has been derived from the working of the civil- 
service rules under the careful management of the 
commission, composed of Alfred P. Edgerton, Indi- 
ana, John H. Oberly, Illinois, and Charles Lyman, 
Connecticut. Under civil-service rules, each State 
and Territory is entitled to so many appointments, 
according to its population. When a clerk is needed 



208 THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET. 

in a department, the Civil-Service Commission is 
notified ; and the names of the four highest in the 
grade desired are sent in to be selected from, these 
names being taken from the States whose quota has 
not already been filled. In this way the time and 
patience of heads of departments, congressmen, and 
others is not trenched upon ; and we are saved the 
scandals which have existed heretofore in the greedy 
rush for office. 

As might naturally be expected in a great work of 
this kind, experience would indicate improvements 
and changes ; and, when necessary, such improve- 
ments have been made, and new rules promulgated, 
very much to the advantage of the service of the 
Government. The Civil-Service Commission make 
many practical suggestions for the future in their 
fourth annual report, which, if adopted and carried 
out, cannot but lead to a most valuable and perfected 
system in the general management of the various 
departments of our government. Not the least im- 
portant recommendation is a new system of classifi- 
cation for all of the departments, by which employees 
are divided into ten classes, covering salaries of from 
$720 per annum to over $2,000. The perfect sim- 
plicity of such an arrangement must be apparent at 
a glance, and there is reasonable certainty that it 
will be adopted. The successful working of the 
civil-service rules in every department of our Gov- 
ernment has been admitted to the writer by all the 
heads of departments and bureaus. Work is better 
done and more promptly, and the knowledge on the 
part of the employee that his or her services are 
permanent during good behavior is a great induce- 
ment for thorough good work. A singular and very 



THE CIVIL-SERVICE COMMISSION. 209 

striking evidence of this lies in the fact, that, under 
the present Administration, there has been an unpre- 
cedented increase in the purchase and leasing of 
permanent residences by clerks in the departments 
at Washington. No better evidence of the value of 
civil-service reform can be given than the following 
extract from the message of the President of the 
United States : — 

" The continued operation of the law relating to our civil ser- 
vice has added the most convincing proofs of its necessity and 
usefulness. It is a fact worthy of note that every public officer 
who has a just idea of his duty to the people testifies to the value 
of this reform. Its stanchest friends are found among those who 
understand it best, and its warmest supporters are those who are 
restrained and protected by its requirements. 

" The meaning of such restraint and protection is not appre- 
ciated by those who want places under the Government, regardless 
of merit and efficiency, nor by those who insist that the selection 
for such places should rest upon a proper credential showing 
active partisan work. They mean to public officers, if not their 
lives, the only opportunity afforded them to attend to public busi- 
ness ; and they mean to the good people of the country the better 
performance of the work of their Government. 

" It is exceedingly strange that the scope and nature of this 
reform are so little understood, and that so many things not in- 
cluded within its plan are called by its name. When cavil yields 
more fully to examination, the system will have large additions to 
the number of its friends. 

" Our civil-service reform may be imperfect in some of its 
details ; it may be misunderstood and opposed ; it may not always 
be faithfully applied ; its designs may sometimes miscarry through 
mistake or wilful intent ; it may sometimes tremble under the 
assaults of its enemies, or languish under the misguided zeal of 
impracticable friends ; but if the people of this country ever sub- 
mit to the banishment of its underlying principle from the opera- 
tion of their Government, they will abandon the surest guaranty 
of the safety and success of American institutions." 




cJ^ 



CHAPTER XIII. 

ALLEN G. THURMAN. 

There is one compensating feature, in our 
troubled and ofttimes troubling American politics, 
that in a measure condones for the offences of the 
system, and repairs the wrongs that an undue parti- 
sanship may commit. It lies in the fact that after 
the contentions and turmoils of party campaigns 
have passed, and the inflamed and exaggerated view 
has given place to dispassionate estimate and fair 
judgment, we do substantial justice to our public 
men, and, in the end, award to them their proper 
place in history. The stress of passion and of half- 
calumny that accompanies the discussion of public 
questions is an evidence of the earnestness with 
which our voters regard the issues before them, and 
the final award of praise that is given becomes all 
the more valuable because it is a vindication and an 
apology as well. To some men who are so well en- 
dowed by nature, and have so wrought during their 
working years that any belittling carries immediate 
reaction, this final justice is often done before the 
close of their earthly career, and sometimes even in 
the years of their best mental vigor and usefulness. 
Such has been the case of Allen G. Thurman, in 
whose honor all men are now pleased to speak, and 
who is loved and respected by many not of his polit- 



212 THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET. 

ical faith, and whose patriotic, honest, and honorable 
devotion to his country is recognized by all. That 
he is not in the front of public or political leadership 
to-day lies only in his fixed determination, made 
some time ago, never again to be a candidate for 
public place or power, but to give his final years to 
the quiet of that private life he always loved but of 
which he was for so many years deprived. We need 
go back no farther than the last convention of his 
party in this State to discover the pressure brought 
to bear upon him to again enter public life, nor the 
decided manner in which he adhered to the above 
described resolution. 

Had affairs so shaped themselves, on several occa- 
sions when such shape seemed more than possible, 
as to have sent Mr. Thurman to the White House, 
he would have represented both the old and the new 
11 Mother of Presidents," as Virginia gave him to the 
nation, and Ohio early adopted him as one of her 
sons. He was born in Lynchburg, Virginia, on 
November 13, 18 13, his father being the Rev. P. 
Thurman, and his mother the only daughter of Col- 
onel Nathaniel Allen, of North Carolina, nephew 
and adopted son of Joseph Hewes, one of the sign- 
ers of the Declaration of Independence. His par- 
ents removed to Chillicothe, the old capital of Ohio, 
in 18 19, and he made that place his home until he 
removed to Columbus, in 1853, where he has since 
resided. His education was in the Chillicothe acad- 
emy, and at the hands of his mother, who was well 
gifted by nature and learning for that important 
task. He studied law under the direction of his 
uncle, the late William Allen, then United States 



ALLEN G. THURMAN. 



213 



senator, and afterwards Governor of Ohio ; and also 
with Noah H. Swayne, afterwards one of the justices 
of the United States Supreme Court. While engaged 
in this duty he also gave much time to land-survey- 
ing, of which profession he was very fond, and which 
doubtless aided in giving him that robust strength 
and physical vitality that in after years enabled him 
to accomplish so great an amount of mental work. 
The preparation he had for the busy and useful life 
he has lived is best described by Judge Alfred Yaple, 
who, in a recent sketch, gives the following graphic 
picture : — 

His mother continued to superintend his educa- 
tion, directing his reading of authors even after he 
had left the old Chillicothe academy, a private insti- 
tution, and the highest and only one he ever at- 
tended until his admission to the bar. While 
attending this academy Thurman's classmates and 
intimates were sent away to college. He could not 
go, for not only did his parents find themselves 
without means to send him, but even required his 
exertions for their own support and the support of 
his sisters, a duty which he cheerfully and efficiently 
rendered, remaining single and at home for more 
than nine years after his admission to the bar, giving 
a large part of his earnings towards his parents' and 
sisters' support. The day his companions mounted 
the stage and went away to college he was seized 
with temporary despair. Sick at heart, he sought 
the old Presbyterian burying-ground, and lay down 
on a flat tomb and cried. Soon the thought struck 
him that it was idle and would not do. A gentle- 
man was passing to whom he told his grief, but 



214 



THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET. 



added, — "If they come home and have learned 
more than I have, they must work for it." Old citi- 
zens still remember that a light was often seen in 
young Thurman's room until four o'clock in the 
morning. He would never quit anything until he 
had mastered it and made it his own. This particu- 
lar trait he has possessed ever since. In the acqui- 
sition of solid learning his academy fellows never 
got in advance of him, and he kept studying long 
after they had graduated. He taught school, studied 
and practised surveying, prepared himself for and 
was admitted to the bar in 1835. 

Those who have watched the slow and ceaseless 
battle by which a young lawyer fights his way into 
practice and to a standing at the bar can guess the 
progress made by young Thurman, who in sixteen 
years after his admission was placed by his State 
upon its supreme bench. This promotion was made 
by no sudden leap, but came only by natural growth 
and after he had shown himself a master hand in his 
great profession. The period between the above 
dates was one of constant and intense mental activity. 
The bar of Chillicothe at that time was excelled by 
none in the State for ability, learning, and eloquence ; 
but such progress did he make that in a compara- 
tively short time he stood confessedly in the very 
front rank of the profession, not only in Ross County' 
but in the State of Ohio. " Employed in almost 
every litigated case in Ross County," says one of his 
biographers, " he was retained in many important 
litigations in adjoining and remote counties. With 
this immense practice, no client could ever truthfully 
complain that his case was neglected. Pleadings 



ALLEN G. THUKMAN. 



215 



were filed at the proper time, and, when the case was 
called for trial, his carefully prepared brief demon- 
strated that every pertinent authority had been 
noticed and every principle of law involved in the 
case thoroughly analyzed and considered. The 
painstaking labor which he bestowed upon the prep- 
aration of a case was remarkable." 

In 1844, Mr. Thurman was nominated as the 
Democratic candidate of the Chillicothe district for 
Congress, and elected. Dunne his service in that 
high position he advocated and voted for the " Wil- 
mot proviso," and, upon the introduction of the Kan- 
sas-Nebraska bill by Mr. Douglas, he opposed the 
repeal of the Missouri Compromise, as an unnecessary 
disturbance of a fair settlement of controverted 
questions, the reopening of which might produce the 
most dire consequences. One term in Congress led 
him to desire to again return to the law, and he did 
so, declining a renomination, much to the regret of 
his constituents. He remained at the bar, in a great 
and growing practice, until 185 1, when he was 
elected to the supreme bench of Ohio, under the 
new constitution, and drew the term for four years. 
From December, 1854, to February, 1856, he served 
as chief justice, and, on the expiration of his term, 
refused a renomination. The grand record he made a 
while on that bench is a part of the history of Ohio,] 
and the wisdom he there showed gave the new, 
court a standing- and character all through the land. 
His opinions, contained in the first five volumes of 
the Ohio State reports, are notable for the clear and 
forcible expressions of his views and the accuracy of 
his statements of the law, and greatly strengthened 



2i6 THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET. 

and extended his reputation as a lawyer and jurist. 
On leaving the bench he returned once more to 
practice, the greater part of his labors being in the 
state and federal courts. 

Judge Thurman steadily grew in mental stature, 
in legal reputation, and in the respect of his fellow- 
men, and it was easily seen that he would not be 
long left to the quietness he had chosen for himself. 
In 1867, the party to which he had always belonged, 
the Democratic, facing a majority of over forty-two 
thousand, cast against it on the previous year, 
looked about for a man who could give to it the 
splendid leadership it needed, and the prestige of a 
high and honored name. All eyes turned toward 
Judge Thurman, and at the convention of the party 
he was unanimously nominated to the governorship. 
It was a call he could not ignore, and, on accepting 
the leadership, he determined to make the best 
fight that lay within the compass of his powers and 
of the weapons at his command. The campaign 
was an intense and remarkable one, and the stand- 
ard-bearer carried himself with such courage and 
determination that he won the respect and admira- 
tion of those who were his political foes. The 
question in issue was, whether the Constitution of 
the State should be so amended as to permit negro 
suffrage. The Democratic party opposed the meas- 
ure. Mr. Thurman gave his personal attention to 
the details of the campaign, securing a perfect 
organization all over the State, managing all the 
party machinery with rare generalship and skill, and 
personally taking the stump, making, in the four 
months of the campaign, over one hundred strong 



ALLEN G. THURMAN. 



217 



and masterly speeches. The result was that he 
defeated the amendment by over fifty thousand 
votes, and cut down the Republican majority of 
forty-two thousand, in 1866, to less than three thou- 
sand. Although a defeated candidate himself, he 
was the real winner of the contest, havine carried 
for his party a majority of the General Assembly. 
That body, in recognition of his splendid fight, and 
with a view that his services should not be lost to 
his country, elected him to the United States Sen- 
ate, as the successor of Benjamin F. Wade. He 
took his seat on March 4, 1869, and, from the first, 
assumed a leading commanding position in that 
notable body. He was no new and untried man, 
but one of national reputation, and known every- 
where as the possessor of great power as a debater 
and lawyer, and a master of the diplomacy of poli- 
tics. From the day of his entrance to the Senate, 
he was recognized as the leader of the Democratic 
minority, and for twelve years held that post of 
responsibility without question and without a rival. 
He was made a member of the committee on judi- 
ciary, and, on the accession of his party to power, 
in the Senate of the Forty-sixth Congress, he was 
made chairman of that important committee, and 
also elected to the position of president pro 
tempore, and, because of illness of Vice-President 
Wheeler, was compelled to preside a fair portion of 
the time. 

Ohio was carried by the Republicans in 1872, by 
a majority of nearly forty thousand, and the chances 
of their opponents, in the year following, looked 
meagre and discouraging. Senator Thurman stud- 



2i8 THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET. 

ied the situation carefully, and decided there was 
a chance for his party, and, under his direction, 
and the spur of his enthusiasm, the State was or- 
ganized, a hard fight made, and won. Both branches 
of the Legislature were carried, and the victory was 
signalized by a return of Mr. Thurman to the Sen- 
ate, for another term of six years. His power and 
influence there were recognized and acknowledged 
by those who were not of his political faith, as well 
as those who were. He was looked upon as one 
of the wise and great statesmen of the day, and, no 
matter how much one might condemn his political 
belief, there was no one who doubted his personal 
honor or his earnest and high-minded patriotism. 
His services to the public were invaluable. A re- 
cent biography of Senator Thurman, in referring to 
this phase of his public life, says : — 

Perhaps he is entitled to be most commended and 
longest remembered for introducing, advocating 
with consummate skill and ability, and causing to be 
passed, an act since known as the "Thurman Act," 
relating to the Pacific railroads. By this act, it is 
said that more than one hundred million dollars 
were saved to the people as an immediate or pro- 
spective result. The opposition to the passage of 
this act was unscrupulous, the friends of the rail- 
roads employing every means, influence, and argu- 
ment, both in and out of the Senate, to defeat it. 
The bill, as was asserted, with great vehemence, 
was unconstitutional, but its constitutionality was 
clearly established by Mr. Thurman, in a speech of 
great power, and his position in this respect has 
since been sustained by a decision of the Supreme 

v 



ALLEN G. TJIURMAN. 



219 



Court of the United States. Senator Thurman was 
not led to introduce and advocate the passage of 
this measure because of any fanatical opposition to 
railroad corporations, as such, but simply to estab- 
lish and secure what he believed to be the plain 
contract rights of the o-overnment. 

Space will allow no extended mention of his ser- 
vices while in the Senate. They are a part of our 
country, and stand on a permanent record. So val- 
uable were they, and in such manner had he carried 
himself, that suggestions came from all parts of the 
country, that the National Democratic Convention 
of 1876 should honor him in nomination for the 
Presidency. The result was that his friends saw 
for him as good a chance in St. Louis as lay before 
any man, and that chance would, undoubtedly, have 
materialized into fact had not a division arisen in 
the Ohio delegation, and opposing ambitions kept 
him from having the undivided support of his State. 
The cold, simple fact of history is, whether pleasant 
to all or not, that the friends of other candidates 
prevailed on William Allen to stand forth as an 
aspirant, when they knew he could not be nomi- 
nated, and in expectation that Ohio would thus be 
kept powerless for Thurman, through a divided dele- 
gation. The scheme worked, and the Ohio senator 
was not presented to the convention, and the nomi- 
nation went to New York. In 1880 there was 
even a more determined and outspoken expression 
in his favor. The Democratic State Convention 
unanimously adopted resolutions in his favor, and 
instructed the delegation from Ohio to vote for him, 
and support him in the national convention. The 



220 THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET. 

first ballot in the last named body gave Senator 
Thurman the entire vote of the Ohio delegation, 
with considerable support from other States. He 
also received the vote of Ohio on the second ballot, 
and some from other States ; " but, before the con- 
clusion of that ballot, it became manifest that Gen- 
eral Hancock would be nominated, and the vote of 
all the States was changed to the latter, with the 
single exception of Indiana, which State adhered to 
ex- Senator Hendricks to the last." A close ob- 
server of the times, and one who knew much of 
Senator Thurman and the incidents surrounding 
that convention, has said : — 

Senator Thurman has been almost universally ac- 
knowledged by the Democracy of the country as the 
ablest and best representative of the party, and, 
from his long and eminent services rendered to the 
party and country, the most entitled to be honored 
by it. Motives of policy undoubtedly prevented the 
convention from nominating Thurman, not because 
he was not popular, for no man before the conven- 
tion has as many friends or fewer enemies, but he 
lived in Ohio, a State, under all ordinary circum- 
stances, certainly Republican. And, as the October 
election in that State for State officers would be 
regarded as a test of the strength of the presidential 
candidate in November, it was feared that the De- 
mocracy, with all of Senator Thurman's popularity 
in the State, would not be able to wrest it from the 
Republicans, with a favorite son, in the person of 
General Garfield, as their candidate. The apprehen- 
sion that the moral effect of the defeat of the De- 
mocracy in Ohio, in October, might be disastrous to 



ALLEN G. THURMAN. 221 

success, with Thurman as the candidate, was proba- 
bly unduly magnified by the immediate friends of 
other candidates. 

When Mr. Thurman retired from the Senate, on 
March 4, 1881, he did so with the expectation of 
laying- down all public burdens, and giving himself 
to the pleasant quiet of private life, where he could 
enjoy the society of his family and his books. But 
the powers that be willed otherwise, and the admira- 
tion and friendship that President Garfield had always 
held for his Ohio neighbor were shown by an ap- 
pointment of the latter as one of the representatives 
of the American government in the international 
congress to be held in Paris in 1881, where an at- 
tempt would be made to agree if possible on the 
fixing of a uniform rule by which silver should be 
regarded as money by the countries therein repre- 
sented. He accepted the position because of the 
pleasant manner in which it would allow him to make 
a trip to Europe, a thing he had always desired but 
had never had leisure to accomplish. He sailed 
from New York on April 5, 1881, and returned in 
the following October, having meanwhile visited 
Switzerland, Belgium, England, and Scotland. Soon 
after his return he was chosen as one of the advisory 
commission in the troubles as to differential rates 
between trunk-line railroads leading from the Atlan- 
tic seaboard to the West. In this capacity he w r as of 
great service, as his wide acquaintance with all public 
questions, his knowledge of the country, his studies 
in connection with railroad problems while in the 
Senate, and the natural logic and fairness of his mind 



222 THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET. 

aided him to a comprehensive view and just conclu- 
sions. 

His determination to remain in private life was 
once more thwarted in 1884, when the Democratic 
State Convention of Ohio, against his purpose and 
protest, sent him as a delegate at large to the national 
Democratic convention in Chicago, where he did 
good and patriotic service for his party. He was 
again and again mentioned while there in connection 
with the presidential nomination, but would not allow 
himself to be spoken of, or even considered as a can- 
didate. In the State convention of the year 1885, a 
most determined effort was made to persuade him to 
accept the nomination for Governor, but he firmly and 
emphatically declined. 

Such success and fame as Allen G. Thurman has 
won came not from any sudden freak of fortune, but 
grew as the legitimate superstructure of the founda- 
tions he had carefully laid. His life is a text-book of 
instruction to the young men of America. I have 
not done it full justice in the above, as the incidents 
and illustrations that give grace and flavor to a man's 
record, and that bring the reader into sympathy with 
him, were perforce omitted, and only the bare out- 
line laid down. But enough has been said to show 
that industry, honesty, and a concession to the rights 
of others have ever been among the strong points of 
his character. In the early days, when building up a 
practice at the bar, he made a point to attend to the 
interests of his clients with the most exact care and 
faithfulness. His pleadings were filed at the proper 
time, and when the case was called he was always 



ALLEN G. THURMAN. 



223 



ready, with a carefully prepared brief that showed 
that every pertinent authority had been noticed and 
every principle of law involved in the case thoroughly 
analyzed and considered. No labor was too great, 
and no detail so small that it was not weighed and 
given its due attention. He was able and adroit in 
the trial of a case, and the weak point of an adver- 
sary was always discovered and attacked. His abil- 
ity to class and generalize was always great, and his 
logic of the solid and convincing order. He has 
always been a Democrat as a matter of conviction, 
and his belief in the principles of his party has been 
such that he has sometimes manfully stood by it 
when all its declarations did not conform to his judg- 
ment, in the hope and expectation that it would 
surely return to all the tenets of the ancient faith. 
As a public speaker he is forcible and direct, wasting 
no time on trivial points, and so carrying and ex- 
pressing himself as to compel the hearer to concede 
that he is uttering the faith that is within him. 
While in the Senate he always received marked at- 
tention from the public, and an announcement that 
he was to speak would always secure a large attend- 
ance of spectators and fellow-senators. 

While in that body he was never a mere partisan, 
and he always held the respect of his political 
opponents. 

The gravity, strength, and high mental stature of 
Senator Thurman were so well recognized after his 
first few years in the Senate that the title of the 
"Old Roman" was soon attached to him, and has 
since remained, as Jackson became " Old Hickory," 



224 



THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET. 



Benton " Old Bullion," and Douglas the " Little 
Giant." The appellation has a sturdy suggestion, 
that is readily adopted by those who know the plain 
and simple manner in which he carries his honors, 
and the aversion he holds towards all forms of cant, 
hypocrisy, or ornamental display. As one has said 
of him, — 

He is a perfect type of the straightforward, strong- 
hearted, clear-headed, Westerner. He is plain in 
dress and manner, and, barring the red bandanna 
handkerchief, which has become a part of American 
history, there is nothing about him to break the 
monotony of the darkish, loose-fitting suit in which 
he is always attired.. 

From this it must not for a moment be imagined 
that he lacks culture, or has lost anything of the 
grace of the old school of manners, that was 
constantly before him in the early days of his 
career. He is one of the most thoroughly learned 
men in public life in the country. He is a fine 
French scholar, and among his favorite books are 
the works of the early French dramatists, which 
he reads in the original. He has a large and well 
selected library, that touches in some form on 
every point of the world's literature. He has a 
genius for mathematics, and is frequently occupied 
in working out abstruse and intricate problems. He 
is resolute, serious, and emphatic in all the tasks he 
has in hand, and, when they are accomplished, enjoys 
a quiet sociability, his talk pleasant and humorous, 
and full of illustrative anecdotes. His days in these 
latter years of quiet are mostly spent at his pleasant 



ALLEN G. THURMAN. 



225 



home in Columbus. He has enough of this world's 
goods to keep him comfortably the rest of his life, 
although his fortune is small ; every dollar of it is 
his own earnings, and no shadow of suspicion ever 
fell into the minds of any as to his methods of 
obtaining it. One of his most pleasant memories, as 
he reviews the long and busy life he has lived, must 
lie in the fact that, even in the wildest ventures of 
party detraction and the most frenzied forms of 
political warfare, no hint has ever been heard against 
his personal honor, or his honesty as a man or public 
official. Surrounded by the good-will and good- 
wishes of his home community, honored by the 
American people everywhere as a great and patriotic 
man, secure in the fame he has so ably earned, and 
allowed to see that he is strong- in the affections and 
respect of many who have in the past bitterly op- 
posed him in public and political life, his lot is 
indeed a favored one, and his sun is going down in 
peace. 

We have selected the above admirable sketch of 
Senator Thurman, as prepared by H. J. Seymour and 
published in the Magazine of Western History, 1885, 
as the best and most complete epitome of his life. 
The fact of his unanimous nomination for Vice-Presi- 
dent of the United States, at the St. Louis conven- 
tion, is conclusive evidence of the correctness and 
justice of the preceding remarks. Mr. Thurman's 
letter of acceptance, which will be found in our con- 
cluding chapter, breathes that fair, honest spirit of 
national independence which is bound to win. 

The members of the Democratic Notification 



226 THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET. 

Committee called on Judge Thurman, June 28, at 
his residence, Columbus, Ohio. General Collins 
spoke as follows : — 

Judge Thurman, — We bear a message from the great coun- 
cil of your party. It is but a formal notice of your nomination 
by that body for the high office of Vice-President of the United 
'States. Rich as our language is in power and expression, it 
contains no words to adequately convey the sentiment of that 
convention as its heart went out to you. I present my friend, 
the Hon. Charles D. Jacob, Mayor of Louisville. 

Mr. Jacob stepped forward, and, in an earnest 
voice, read the following' formal letter of notifica- 
tion : — 

Columbus, Ohio, June 28, 1888. 
To the Hon. Allen G. Thurman of Ohio, — 

Sir, — It has become the highly agreeable duty of this com- 
mittee to inform you that upon the first ballot of the National 
Democratic Convention, held recently in the city of St. Louis, 
and representing every State and Territory of our Union, for the 
purpose of selecting candidates for the Presidency and Vice- 
Presidency, you were unanimously chosen as the nominee of 
that great party, for the eminent and responsible office of Vice- 
President of the United States. In thus^pontaneously and em- 
phatically demanding a return to that political arena which you 
graced with so much wisdom, dignity, and vigor, the Democracy 
of this country have honored themselves by relieving their party 
from the charge of ingratitude, and we believe and trust, in No- 
vember next, the people will efface such a taint from the repub- 
lic by electing you to preside over the most august deliberative 
body in the world — the Senate of the United States. [Ap- 
plause.] Should so desirable a consummation be achieved, 
then, indeed, could every lover of his country, regardless of 
party or creed, rejoice that in you is embraced the highest type 
of the enlightened and refined American citizen, and that, no 
matter what the crisis might be, this government would be safe 
in your hands. [Applause.] 

An engrossed copy of the platform of principles, couched in 
language that admits of no doubt, and adopted without a dis- 
senting vote, is herewith presented. 



ALLEN G. THURMAN. 22/ 

In discharging their trust this committee desire to convey to 
you assurances of the most profound esteem and admiration, 
and to express their sincerest good-wishes for your happiness 
and prosperity. We have the honor, sir, to be your obedient 
servants. 

Patrick Collins, Chairman, Massachusetts. 

Basil Gordon, Secretary, Virginia. 

Amid the profound silence, Judge Thurman re- 
plied as follows : — 

Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen of the Committee, — I 
pray you to accept my very sincere thanks for the kind and 
courteous manner in which you have communicated to me the 
official information of my nomination by the St. Louis conven- 
tion. You know without saying it that I am profoundly grate- 
ful to the convention and to the Democratic party for the honor 
conferred upon me, and the more so that it was wholly unsought 
and undesired by me ; not that I undervalued a distinction 
which any man of our party, however eminent, might highly 
prize, but simply because I had ceased to be ambitious of public 
life. But when I am told in so earnest and impressive a man- 
ner that I can still render service to the good cause to which I 
have ever been devoted — a cause to which I am bound by the 
ties of affection, by the dictates of judgment, by a sense of 
obligation for favors so often conferred upon me, and by a fer- 
vent hope that the party may long continue to be able to serve 
the republic, what can I under such circumstances do but yield 
my private wishes to the demand of those whose opinions I am 
bound to respect ? [Applause.] Gentlemen, with an unfeigned 
diffidence in my ability to fulfil the expectations that led to my 
nomination, I yet feel it to be my duty to accept it, and do all 
that it may be in my power to do to merit so marked a distinction. 

Gentlemen, the country is blessed by an able and honest ad- 
ministration of the general government. [Applause.] We 
have a President who wisely, bravely, diligently, and patriotically 
discharges the duties of his high office. [Applause.] I fully 
believe that the best interests of the country require his reelec- 
tion, and the hope that I may be able to contribute somewhat to 
bring about the result is one of my motives for accepting a 
place on our ticket, and I also feel it my duty to labor for a re- 



228 THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET. 

duction of taxes, and to put a stop to that accumulation of a 
surplus in the treasury that, in my judgment, is not only prej- 
udicial to our financial welfare, but is in a high degree danger- 
ous to honest and constitutional government. [Applause.] I 
suppose, gentlemen, that I need say no more to-day. In due 
time, and in accordance with established usage, I will transmit 
to your chairman a written acceptance of my nomination, with 
such observations upon public questions as may seem to me to 
be proper. [Applause.] 



CHAPTER XIII. 

CAMPAIGN OF 1 888. OFFICIAL DOCUMENTS. 

TARIFF MESSAGE. — DEMOCRATIC PLATFORM. — CIVIL SERVICE 

MESSAGE. 

In this, the concluding chapter of our work, it is 
our province to show that the programme of the 
Democratic party is to continue the good work so 
well commenced, and to that end we invite the atten- 
tion of our readers to the documents which follow, 
feeling convinced that a careful perusal of the same 
will secure conviction to the minds of all : — 

TARIFF MESSAGE 

OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, COMMUNICATED TO 
THE TWO HOUSES OF CONGRESS AT THE BEGINNING OF THE 
FIRST SESSION OF THE FIFTIETH CONGRESS. 

To the Congress of the United States, — You are con- 
fronted at the threshold of your legislative duties with a condi- 
tion of the national finances which imperatively demands 
immediate and careful consideration. 

The amount of money annually exacted, through the opera- 
tion of present laws, from the industries and necessities of the 
people, largely exceeds the sum necessary to meet the expenses 
of the government. 

When we consider that the theory of our institutions 
guarantees to every citizen the full enjoyment of all the fruits 
of his industry and enterprise, with only such deduction as may 

229 



230 THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET. 

be his share towards the careful and economical maintenance 
of the government which protects him, it is plain that the 
exaction of more than this is indefensible extortion, and a 
culpable betrayal of American fairness and justice. This 
wrong inflicted upon those who bear the burden of national 
taxation, like other wrongs, multiplies a brood of evil conse- 
quences. The public treasury, which should only exist as a 
conduit conveying the people's tribute to its legitimate objects 
of expenditure, becomes a hoarding-place for money needlessly 
withdrawn from trade and the people's use, thus crippling our 
national energies, suspending our country's development, pre- 
venting investment in productive enterprise, threatening finan- 
cial disturbance, and inviting schemes of public plunder. 

This condition of our treasury is not altogether new ; and it 
has more than once of late been submitted to the people's 
representatives in the Congress, who alone can apply a remedy. 
And yet the situation still continues, with aggravated incidents, 
more than ever presaging financial convulsion and widespread 
disaster. 

It will not do to neglect this situation because its clangers 
are not now palpably imminent and apparent. They exist none 
the less certainly, and await the unforeseen and unexpected 
occasion when suddenly they will be precipitated upon us. 

On the thirtieth day of June, 1885, the excess of revenues over 
public expenditures, after complying with the annual require- 
ment of the sinking-fund act, was $17,859,735.84; during the 
year ended June 30, 1886, such excess amounted to $49,405, 
545.20; and during the year ended June 30, 1887, it reached 
the sum of $55,567,849.54. 

The annual contributions to the sinking fund during the 
three years above specified, amounting in the aggregate to 
$138,058,320.94, and deducted from the surplus as stated, were 
made by calling in for that purpose outstanding three per cent, 
bonds of the government. During the six months prior to 
June 30, 1887, the surplus revenue had grown so large by 
repeated accumulations, and it was feared the withdrawal of 
this great sum of money needed by the people would so affect 
the business of the country, that the sum of $79,864,100 of such 
surplus was applied to the payment of the principal and inter- 
est of the three percent, bonds still outstanding, and which were 
then payable at the option of the government. The precarious 



TARIFF MESSAGE. 



231 



condition of financial affairs among the people still needing 
relief, immediately after the thirtieth day of June, 1887, the 
remainder of the three per cent, bonds then outstanding, 
amounting with principal and interest to the sum of $18,877,500, 
were called in and applied to the sinking-fund contribution for 
the current fiscal year. Notwithstanding these operations of 
the Treasury Department, representations of distress in business 
circles not only continued but increased, and absolute peril 
seemed at hand. In these circumstances, the contribution to 
the sinking fund for the current fiscal year was at once com- 
pleted by the expenditure of $27,684,283.55 in the purchase of 
government bonds not yet due bearing four and four and a half 
per cent, interest, the premium paid thereon averaging about 
twenty-four per cent, for the former and eight per cent, for the 
latter. In addition to this, the interest accruing during the 
current year upon the outstanding bonded indebtedness of the 
government was to some extent anticipated, and banks selected 
as depositories of public money were permitted to somewhat in- 
crease their deposits. 

While the expedients thus employed to release to the people 
the money lying idle in the Treasury served to avert immediate 
danger, our surplus revenues have continued to accumulate, the 
excess for the present year amounting on the first day of Decem- 
ber to $55,258,701.19, and estimated to reach the sum of 
$113,000,000 on the 30th of June next, at which date it is ex- 
pected that this sum, added to prior accumulations, will swell 
the surplus in the treasury to $140,000,000. 

There seems to be no assurance that, with such a withdrawal 
from use of the people's circulating medium, our business com- 
munity may not in the near future be subjected to the same 
distress which was quite lately produced from the same cause. 
And while the functions of our National Treasury should be few 
and simple, and while its best condition would be reached, I 
believe, by its entire disconnection with private business inter- 
ests, yet when, by a perversion of its purposes, it idly holds 
money uselessly subtracted from the channels of trade, there 
seems to be reason for the claim that some legitimate means 
should be devised by the government to restore in an emer- 
gency, without waste or extravagance, such money to its place 
among the people. 

If such an emergency arises, there now exists no clear and 



232 



THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET. 



undoubted executive power of relief. Heretofore the redemp- 
tion of three per cent, bonds, which were payable at the option 
of the government, has afforded a means for the disbursement 
of the excess of our revenues ; but these bonds have all been 
retired, and there are no bonds outstanding the payment of 
which we have the right to insist upon. The contribution to 
the sinking fund which furnishes the occasion for expenditure 
in the purchase of bonds has been already made for the current 
year, so that there is no outlet in that direction. 

In the present state of legislation, the only pretence of any 
existing executive power to restore, at this time, any part of our 
surplus revenues to the people by its expenditure, consists in 
the supposition that the Secretary of the Treasury may enter 
the market and purchase the bonds of the government not yet 
due, at a rate of premium to be agreed upon. The only provis- 
ion of law from which such a power could be derived is found 
in an appropriation bill passed a number of years ago ; and it is 
subject to the suspicion that it was intended as temporary and 
limited in its application, instead of conferring a continuing dis- 
cretion and authority. No condition ought to exist which 
would justify the grant of power to a single official, upon his 
judgment of its necessity, to withhold from or release to the 
business of the people, in an unusual manner, money held in the 
Treasury, and thus affect, at his will, the financial situation of 
the country ; and if it is deemed wise to lodge in the Secretary 
of the Treasury the authority in the present juncture to purchase 
bonds, it should be plainly vested, and provided, as far as pos- 
sible, with such checks and limitations as will define this offi- 
cial's right and discretion, and at the same time relieve him 
from undue responsibility. 

In considering the question of purchasing bonds as a means 
of restoring to circulation the surplus money accumulating in 
the treasury, it should be borne in mind that premiums must of 
course be paid upon such purchase, that there may be a large 
part of these bonds held as investments which cannot be pur- 
chased at any price, and that combinations among holders who 
are willing to sell may unreasonably enhance the cost of such 
bonds to the government. 

It has been suggested that the present bonded debt might 
be refunded at a less rate of interest, and the difference between 
the old and new security paid in cash, thus finding use for the 



TARIFF MESSAGE. 



233 



surplus in the treasury. The success of this plan, it is appar- 
ent, must depend upon the volition of the holders of the present 
bonds ; and it is not entirely certain that the inducement which 
must be offered them would result in more financial benefit to 
the government than the purchase of bonds, while the latter 
proposition would reduce the principal of the debt by actual 
payment, instead of extending it. 

The proposition to deposit the money held by the govern- 
ment in banks throughout the country, for use by the people, is, 
it seems to me, exceedingly objectionable in principle, as estab- 
lishing too close a relationship between the operations of the 
government treasury and the business of the country, and too 
extensive a commingling of their money, thus fostering an 
unnatural reliance in private business upon public funds. If 
this scheme should be adopted, it should only be done as a 
temporary expedient to meet an urgent necessity. Legisla- 
tive and executive effort should generally be in the opposite 
direction, and should have a tendency to divorce, as much and as 
fast as can safely be done, the treasury department from private 
enterprise. 

Of course it is not expected that unnecessary and extrava- 
gant appropriations will be made for the purpose of avoiding 
the accumulation of an excess of revenue. Such expenditure, 
beside the demoralization of all just conceptions of public duty 
which it entails, stimulates a habit of reckless improvidence not 
in the least consistent with the mission of our people or the high 
and beneficent purposes of our government. 

I have deemed it my duty to thus bring to the knowledge of 
my countrymen, as well as to the attention of their representa- 
tives charged with the responsibility of legislative relief, the 
gravity of our financial situation. The failure of the Congress 
heretofore to provide against the dangers which it was quite 
evident the very nature of the difficulty must necessarily pro- 
duce caused a condition of financial distress and apprehension 
since your last adjournment, which taxed to the utmost all the 
authority and expedients within executive control ; and these 
appear now to be exhausted. If disaster results from the con- 
tinued inaction of Congress, the responsibility must rest where 
it belongs. 

Though the situation thus far considered is fraught with 
danger which should be fully realized, and though it presents 



234 



THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET. 



features of wrong to the people as well as peril to the country, it 
is but a result growing out of a perfectly palpable and apparent 
cause, constantly reproducing the same alarming circumstances 
— a congested national treasury and a depleted monetary con- 
dition in the business of the country. It need hardly be stated 
that, while the present situation demands a remedy, we can only 
be saved from a like predicament in the future by the removal 
of its cause. 

Our scheme of taxation, by means of which this needless 
surplus is taken from the people and put into the public 
treasury, consists of a tariff or duty levied upon importations 
from abroad, and internal revenue taxes levied upon the con- 
sumption of tobacco and spirituous and malt liquors. It must 
be conceded that none of the things subjected to internal- 
revenue taxation are, strictly speaking, necessaries ; there 
appears to be no just complaint of this taxation by the consu- 
mers of these articles, and there seems to be nothing so well 
able to bear the burden without hardship to any portion of the 
people. 

But our present tariff laws, the vicious, inequitable, and 
illogical source of unnecessary taxation, ought to be at once 
revised and amended. These laws, as their primary and plain 
effect, raise the price to consumers of all articles imported and 
subject to duty by precisely the sum paid for such duties. Thus 
the amount of the duty measures the tax paid by those who pur- 
chase for use these imported articles. Many of these things, 
however, are raised or manufactured in our own country, and 
the duties now levied upon foreign goods and products are 
called protection to these home manufactures, because they ren- 
der it possible for those of our people who are manufacturers to 
make these taxed articles and sell them for a price equal to that 
demanded for the imported goods that have paid customs duty. 
So it happens that, while comparatively a few use the imported 
articles, millions of our people, who never used and never saw 
any of the foreign products, purchase and use things of the 
same kind made in this country, and pay therefor nearly or 
quite the same enhanced price which the duty adds to the im- 
ported articles. Those who buy imports pay the duty charged 
thereon into the public treasury, but the great majority of our cit- 
izens, who buy domestic articles of the same class, pay a sum 
at least approximately equal to this duty to the home manufac- 



TARIFF MESSAGE. 



235 



turer. This reference to the operation of our tariff laws is not 
made by way of instruction, but in order that we may be con- 
stantly reminded of the manner in which they impose a burden 
upon those who consume domestic products as well as those 
who consume imported articles, and thus create a tax upon all 
our people. 

It is not proposed to entirely relieve the country of this 
taxation. It must be extensively continued as the source of the 
government's income ; and in a readjustment of our tariff the 
interests of American labor engaged in manufacture should be 
carefully considered, as well as the preservation of our manu- 
facturers. It may be called protection, or by any other name, 
but relief from the hardships and dangers of our present tariff laws 
should be devised with especial precaution against imperilling 
the existence of our manufacturing interests. But this existence 
should not mean a condition which, without regard to the public 
welfare or a national exigency, must always insure the realiza- 
tion of immense profits instead of moderately profitable returns. 
As the volume and diversity of our national activities increase, 
new recruits are added to those who desire a continuation of the 
advantages which they conceive the present system of tariff tax- 
ation directly affords them. So stubbornly have all efforts to 
reform the present condition been resisted by those of our 
fellow-citizens thus engaged that they can hardly complain of 
the suspicion, entertained to a certain extent, that there exists 
an organized combination all along the line to maintain their 
advantage. 

We are in the midst of centennial celebrations, and with 
becoming pride we rejoice in American skill and ingenuity, in 
American energy and enterprise, and in the wonderful natural 
advantages and resources developed by a century's national 
growth. Yet when an attempt is made to justify a scheme 
which permits a tax to be laid upon every consumer in the land 
for the benefit of our manufacturers, quite beyond a reasonable 
demand for governmental regard, it suits the purposes of advo- 
cacy to call our manufactures infant industries, still needing the 
highest and greatest degree of favor and fostering care that can 
be wrung from federal legislation. 

It is also said that the increase in the price of domestic man- 
ufactures resulting from the present tariff is necessary in order 
that higher wages may be paid to our workingmen employed in 



236 



THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET 



manufactories than are paid for what is called the pauper labor 
of Europe. All will acknowledge the force of an argument 
which involves the welfare and liberal compensation of our labor- 
ing people. Our labor is honorable in the eyes of every Ameri- 
can citizen ; and, as it lies at the foundation of our development 
and progress, it is entitled, without affectation or hypocrisy, to 
the utmost regard. The standard of our laborers' life should 
not be measured by that of any other country less favored, and 
they are entitled to their full share of all our advantages. 

By the last census it is made to appear that, of the 17,392,099 
of our population engaged in all kinds of industries, 7,670,493 
are employed in agriculture, 4,074,238 in professional and per- 
sonal service (2,934,876 of whom are domestic servants and 
laborers), while 1,810,256 are employed in trade and transporta- 
tion, and 3,837,112 are classed as employed in manufacturing 
and mining. 

For present purposes, however, the last number given should 
be considerably reduced. Without attempting to enumerate all, 
it will be conceded that there should be deducted from those 
which it includes 375,143 carpenters and joiners, 285,401 milli- 
ners, dressmakers, and seamstresses, 172,726 blacksmiths, 
133,756 tailors and tailoresses, 102,473 masons, 76,241 butchers, 
41,309 bakers, 22,083 plasterers, and 4,891 engaged in manufac- 
turing agricultural implements, amounting in the aggregate to 
1,214,023, leaving 2,623,089 persons employed in such manufac- 
turing industries as are claimed to be benefited by a high 
tariff. 

To these the appeal is made to save their employment and 
maintain their wages by resisting a change. There should be 
no disposition to answer such suggestions by the allegation that 
they are in a minority among those who labor, and therefore 
should forego an advantage, in the interest of low prices for the 
majority ; their compensation, as it may be affected by the oper- 
ation of tariff laws, should at all times be scrupulously kept in 
view ; and yet, with slight reflection, they will not overlook the 
fact that they are consumers with the rest ; that they, too, have 
their own wants and those of their families to supply from their 
earnings, and that the price of the necessaries of life, as well as 
the amount of their wages, will regulate the measure of their 
welfare and comfort. 

But the reduction of taxation demanded should be so meas- 



TARIFF MESSAGE. 



237 



ured as not to necessitate or justify either the loss of employ- 
ment by the workingman, nor the lessening of his wages ; and 
the profits still remaining to the manufacturer, after a necessary 
readjustment, should furnish no excuse for the sacrifice of the 
interests of his employes, either in their opportunity to work or 
in the diminution of their compensation. Nor can the worker 
in manufactures fail to understand that, while a high tariff is 
claimed to be necessary to allow the payment of remunerative 
wages, it certainly results in a very large increase in the price of 
nearly all sorts of manufactures, which, in almost countless 
forms, he needs for the use of himself and his family. He re- 
ceives at the desk of his employer his wages, and perhaps before 
he reaches his home is obliged, in a purchase for family use of 
an article which embraces his own labor, to return in the pay- 
ment of the increase in price which the tariff permits the hard- 
earned compensation of many days of toil. 

The farmer and the agriculturist, who manufactures nothing, 
but who pays the increased price which the tariff imposes, upon 
every agricultural implement, upon all he wears and upon all he 
uses and owns, except the increase of his flocks and herds, and 
such things as his husbandry produces from the soil, is invited 
to aid in maintaining the present situation, and he is told that a 
high duty on imported wool is necessary for the benefit of those 
who have sheep to shear, in order that the price of their wool 
may be increased. They, of course, are not reminded that the 
farmer who has no sheep is by this scheme obliged, in his pur- 
chases of clothing and woollen goods, to pay a tribute to his 
fellow-farmer as well as to the manufacturer and merchant ; nor 
is any mention made of the fact that the sheep-owners them- 
selves and their households must wear clothing, and use other 
articles manufactured from the wool they sell at tariff prices, and 
thus as consumers must return their share of this increased 
price to the tradesman. 

I think it may be fairly assumed that a large proportion of 
the sheep owned by the farmers throughout the country are 
found in small flocks, numbering from twenty-five to fifty. The 
duty on the grade of imported wool which these sheep yield is 
10 cents each pound if of the value of 30 cents or less, and 12 
cents if of the value of more than 30 cents. If the liberal esti- 
mate of six pounds be allowed for each fleece, the duty thereon 
would be 60 or 72 cents, and this may be taken as the utmost 



238 



THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET. 



enhancement of its price to the farmer by reason of this duty. 
Eighteen dollars would thus represent the increased price of the 
wool from twenty-five sheep, and $36 that from the wool of fifty 
sheep ; and at present values this addition would amount to 
about one-third of its price. If upon its sale the farmer receives 
this or a less tariff profit, the wool leaves his hands charged with 
precisely that sum, which in all its changes will adhere to it, un- 
til it reaches the consumer. When manufactured into cloth and 
other goods and material for use, its cost is not only increased 
to the extent of the farmer's tariff profit, but a further sum has 
been added for the benefit of the manufacturer under the oper- 
ation of other tariff laws. In the meantime, the day arrives 
when the farmer finds it necessary to purchase woollen goods 
and material to clothe himself and family for the winter. When 
he faces the tradesman for that purpose, he discovers that he is 
obliged not only to return in the way of increased prices his 
tariff profit on the wool he sold, and which then perhaps lies 
before him in manufactured form, but that he must add a con- 
siderable sum thereto to meet a further increase in cost caused 
by a tariff duty on the manufacture. Thus in the end he is 
aroused to the fact that he has paid upon a moderate purchase, 
as a result of the tariff scheme, which, when he sold his wool, 
seemed so profitable, an increase in price more than sufficient to 
sweep away all the tariff profit he received upon the wool he 
produced and sold. 

When the number of farmers engaged in wool-raising is com- 
pared with all the farmers in the country, and the small propor- 
tion they bear to our population is considered ; when it is made 
apparent that, in the case of a large part of those who own 
sheep, the benefit of the present tariff on wool is illusory ; and, 
above all, when it must be conceded that the increase of the 
cost of living caused by such tariff becomes a burden upon 
those with moderate means and the poor, the employed and un- 
employed, the sick and well, and the young and old, and that it 
constitutes a tax which, with relentless grasp, is fastened upon 
the clothing of every man, woman, and child in the land, reasons 
are suggested why the removal or reduction of this duty should 
be included in a revision of our tariff laws. 

In speaking of the increased cost to the consumer of our 
home manufactures, resulting from a duty laid upon imported 
articles of the same description, the fact is not overlooked that 



TARIFF MESSAGE. 



239 



competition among our domestic producers sometimes has the 
effect of keeping the price of their products below the highest 
limit allowed by such duty. But it is notorious that this com- 
petition is too often strangled by combinations quite prevalent 
at this time, and frequently called trusts, which have for their 
object the regulation of the supply and price of commodities 
made and sold by members of the combination. The people 
can hardly hope for any consideration in the operation of these 
selfish schemes. 

If, however, in the absence of such combination, a healthy 
and free competition reduces the price of any particular duti- 
able article of home production, below the limit which it might 
otherwise reach under our tariff laws, and if; with such reduced 
price, its manufacture continues to thrive, it is entirely evident 
that one thing has been discovered which should be carefully 
scrutinized in an effort to reduce taxation. 

The necessity of combination to maintain the price of any 
commodity to the tariff point furnishes proof that some one is 
willing to accept lower prices for such commodity, and that such 
prices are remunerative ; and lower prices produced by compe- 
tition prove the same thing. Thus where either of these con- 
ditions exists a case would seem to be presented for an easy 
reduction of taxation. 

The considerations which have been presented touching our 
tariff laws are intended only to enforce an earnest recommen- 
dation that the surplus revenues of the government be prevented 
by the reduction of our customs duties, and, at the same time, to 
emphasize a suggestion that in accomplishing this purpose we 
may discharge a double duty to our people by granting to them 
a measure of relief from tariff taxation in quarters where it is 
most needed and from sources where it can be most fairly and 
justly accorded. 

Nor can the presentation made of such considerations be, with 
any degree of fairness, regarded as evidence of unfriendliness 
toward our manufacturing interests, or of any lack of apprecia- 
tion of their value and importance. 

These interests constitute a leading and most substantial 
element of our national greatness and furnish the proud proof 
of our country's progress. But if in the emergency that presses 
upon us our manufacturers are asked to surrender something 
for the public good and to avert disaster, their patriotism, as 



240 



THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET. 



well as a grateful recognition of advantages already afforded, 
should lead them to willing cooperation. No demand is made 
that they shall forego all the benefits of governmental regard ; 
but they cannot fail to be admonished of their duty, as well as 
their enlightened self-interest and safety, when they are re- 
minded of the fact that financial panic and collapse, to which 
the present condition tends, afford no greater shelter or protec- 
tion to our manufactures than to our other important enterprises. 
Opportunity for safe, careful, and deliberate reform is now 
offered ; and none of us should be unmindful of a time when 
an abused and irritated people, heedless of those who have re- 
sisted timely and reasonable relief, may insist upon a radical 
and sweeping rectification of their wrongs. 

The difficulty attending a wise and fair revision of our tariff 
laws is not underestimated. It will require on the part of the 
Congress great labor and care, and especially a broad and 
national contemplation of the subject, and a patriotic disregard 
of such local and selfish claims as are unreasonable and reck- 
less of the welfare of the entire country. 

Under our present laws more than four thousand articles are 
subject to duty. Many of these do not in any way compete 
with our own manufactures, and many are hardly worth atten- 
tion as subjects of revenue. A considerable reduction can be 
made in the aggregate by adding them to the free list. The 
taxation of luxuries presents no features of hardship ; but the 
necessaries of life used and consumed by all the people, the 
duty upon which adds to the cost of living in every home, should 
be greatly cheapened. 

The radical reduction of the duties imposed on raw material 
used in manufactures, or its free importation, is of course an 
important factor in any effort to reduce the price of these neces- 
saries; it would not only relieve them from the increased cost 
caused by the tariff on such material, but, the manufactured 
product being thus cheapened, that part of the tariff now laid 
upon such product, as a compensation to our manufacturers for 
the present price of raw material, could be accordingly modi- 
fied. Such reduction, or free importation, would serve beside 
to largely reduce the revenue. It is not apparent how such a 
change can have any injurious effect upon our manufacturers. 
On the contrary, it would appear to give them a better chance 
in foreign markets with the manufacturers of other countries, 



TARIFF MESSAGE - 24 1 

who cheapen their wares by free material. Thus our people 
might have the opportunity of extending their sales beyond the 
limits of home consumption — saving them from the depression, 
interruption in business, and loss caused by a glutted domestic 
market, and affording their employes more certain and steady 
labor, with its resulting quiet and contentment. 

The question thus imperatively presented for solution should 
be approached in a spirit higher than partisanship and con- 
sidered in the light of that regard for patriotic duty which should 
characterize the action of those intrusted with the weal of a con- 
fiding people. But the obligation to declared party policy and 
principle is not wanting to urge prompt and effective action. 
Both of the great political parties now represented in the gov- 
ernment have, by repeated and authoritative declarations, con- 
demned the condition of our laws which permit the collection 
from the people of unnecessary revenue, and have, in the most 
solemn manner, promised its correction ; and neither as citizens 
nor partisans are our countrymen in a mood to condone the 
deliberate violation of these pledges. 

Our progress toward a wise conclusion will not be improved 
by dwelling upon the theories of protection and free trade. 
This savors too much of bandying epithets. It is a condition 
which confronts us — not a theory. Relief from this condition 
may involve a slight reduction of the advantages which we 
award our home productions, but the entire withdrawal of such 
advantages should not be contemplated. The question of free 
trade is absolutely irrelevant ; and the persistent claim made in 
certain quarters, that all efforts to relieve the people from 
unjust and unnecessary taxation are schemes of so-called free- 
traders, is mischievous and far removed from any consideration 
for the public good. 

The simple and plain duty which we owe the people is to 
reduce taxation to the necessary expenses of an economical 
operation of the government, and to restore to the business of 
the country the money which we hold in the treasury through 
the perversion of governmental powers. These things can and 
should be done with safety to all our industries, without danger 
to the opportunity for remunerative labor which our workingmen 
need, and with benefit to them and all our people, by cheapen- 
ing their means of subsistence and increasing the measure of 
their comforts. 



242 THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET. 

The Constitution provides that the President " shall, from 
time to time, give to ihe Congress information of the state of 
the Union." It has been the custom of the executive, in com- 
pliance with this provision, to annually exhibit to the Congress, 
at the opening of its session, the general condition of the coun- 
try, and to detail with some particularity the operations of the 
different executive departments. It would be especially agree- 
able to follow this course at the present time, and to call atten- 
tion to the valuable accomplishments of these departments 
during the last fiscal year. But I am so much impressed with 
the paramount importance of the subject to which this commu- 
nication has thus far been devoted that I shall forego the 
addition of any other topic, and only urge upon your immediate 
consideration the "state of the Union " as shown in the present 
consideration of our treasury and our general fiscal situation, 
upon which every element of our safety and prosperity depends. 

The reports of the heads of departments, which will be 
submitted, contain full and explicit information touching the 
transaction of the business intrusted to them, and such recom- 
mendations relating to legislation in the public interests as they 
deem advisable. I ask for these reports and recommendations 
the deliberate examination and action of the legislative branch 
of the government. 

There are other subjects, not embraced in the departmental 
reports, demanding legislative consideration, and which I should 
be glad to submit. Some of them, however, have been earnestly 
presented in previous messages, and as to them I beg leave to 
repeat prior recommendations. 

As the law makes no provision for any report from the 
Department of State, a brief history of the transactions of that 
important department, together with other matters which it may 
hereafter be deemed essential to commend to the attention of the 
Congress, may furnish the occasion for a future communication. 

Grover Cleveland. 

Washington, December 6, 1887. 



THE DEMOCRATIC PLATFORM. 243 



DEMOCRATIC PLATFORM, 1888. 

The Democratic party of the United States, in national 
convention assembled, renews the pledge of its fidelity to Demo- 
cratic faith, and reaffirms the platform adopted by its representa- 
tives in the convention of 1884, and indorses the views expressed 
by President Cleveland in his last earnest message to Congress as 
the correct interpretation of that platform upon the question of 
tariff reduction ; and also indorses the efforts of our Democratic 
representatives in Congress to secure a reduction of excessive 
taxation. Among its principles of party faith are the mainte- 
nance of the indissoluble Union of free and indestructible states, 
now about to enter upon its second century of unexampled prog- 
ress and renown ; devotion to a plan of government regulated 
by a written constitution strictly specifying every granted power 
and expressly reserving to the states or people the entire un- 
granted residue of power ; the encouragement of a jealous pop- 
ular vigilance, directed to all who have been chosen for brief 
terms to enact and execute the laws, and are charged with the 
duty of preserving peace, insuring equality, and establishing 
justice. 

The Democratic party welcomes an exacting scrutiny of the 
administration of the executive power which four years ago was 
committed to its trust in the election of Grover Cleveland 
President of the United States, but it challenges the most 
searching inquiry concerning its fidelity and devotion to the 
pledges which then invited the suffrages of the people during a 
most critical period of our financial affairs, resulting from over- 
taxation, the anomalous condition of our currency, and a public 
debt unmatured. It has by the adoption of a wise and conserva- 
tive course not only avoided disaster, but greatly promoted the 
prosperity of our people. 

It has reversed the improvident and unwise policy of the Re- 
publican party touching the public domain, and has reclaimed 
from corporations and syndicates, alien and domestic, and re- 
stored to the people, nearly one hundred million acres of land, 
to be sacredly held as homesteads for our citizens. 

While carefully guarding the interest of the principles of jus- 
tice and equity, it has paid out more for pensions and bounties 
to the soldiers and sailors of the republic than was ever paid 



244 



THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET. 



before during an equal period. It has adopted and consistently 
pursued a firm and prudent foreign policy, preserving peace 
with all nations while scrupulously maintaining all the rights 
and interests of our own government and the people at home 
and abroad. The exclusion from our shores of Chinese laborers 
has been effectually secured under the provision of a treaty, the 
operation of which has been postponed by the action of a Re- 
publican majority in the Senate. 

In every branch and department of the government under 
Democratic control, the rights and the welfare of all the people 
have been guarded and defended ; every public interest has 
been protected, and the equality of all our citizens before the 
law, without regard to race or color, has been steadfastly main- 
tained. Upon its record, thus exhibited, and upon the pledge of 
a continuance to the people of the benefits of Democracy, it in- 
vokes a renewal of public trust by the reelection of a chief magis- 
trate who has been faithful, able, and prudent, to invoke, in 
addition, to that trust by the transfer also to the Democracy of 
the entire legislative power. 

The Republican party, controlling the Senate, and resisting in 
both houses of Congress a reformation of unjust and unequal 
tax laws, which have outlasted the necessities of war and are 
now undermining the abundance of a long peace, deny to the 
people equality before the law, and the fairness and the justice 
which are their right. Then the cry of American labor for a 
better share in the rewards of industry is stifled with false pre- 
tence, enterprise is fettered and bound down to home markets, 
capital is discouraged with doubt, and unequal, unjust laws can 
neither be properly amended nor repealed. 

The Democratic party will continue with all the power con- 
fided to it the struggle to reform these laws in accordance with 
the pledges of its last platform, indorsed at the ballot-box by 
the suffrages of the people. Of all the industrious freemen of 
our land, the immense majority, including every tiller of the 
soil, gain no advantage from excessive tax laws, but the price of 
nearly everything they buy is increased by the favoritism of an 
unequal system of tax legislation. All unnecessary taxation is 
unjust taxation. 

It is repugnant to the creed of Democracy that by such taxa- 
tion the cost of the necessaries of life should be unjustifiably in- 
creased to all our people. Judged by Democratic principles, the 



THE DEMOCRATIC PLATFORM. 245 

interests of the people are betrayed when, by unnecessary tax- 
ation, trusts and combinations are permitted to exist, which, 
while unduly enriching the few that combine, rob the body of 
our citizens by depriving them of the benefits of natural compe- 
tition. Every Democratic rule of governmental action is violated 
when, through unnecessary taxation, a vast sum of money, far 
beyond the needs of an economical administration, is drawn 
from the people and the channels of trade, and accumulated as 
a demoralizing surplus in the national treasury. The money 
now lying idle in the federal treasury, resulting from superflu- 
ous taxation, amounts to more than one hundred and twenty-five 
millions, and the surplus collected is reaching the sum of more 
than sixty millions annually. Debauched by this immense 
temptation, the remedy of the Republican party is to meet and 
exhaust, by extravagant appropriations and expenses, whether 
constitutional or not, the accumulation of extravagant taxation. 
The Democratic policy is to enforce frugality in public expense, 
and abolish unnecessary taxation. Our established domestic 
industries and enterprises should not, and need not, be endan- 
gered by the reduction and correction of the burdens of taxa- 
tion. On the contrary, a fair and careful revision of our tax 
laws, with due allowance for the difference between the wages 
of American and foreign labor, must promote and encourage 
every branch of such industries and enterprises by giving them 
assurances of an extended market and steady and continuous 
operations in the interests of American labor, which should in 
no event be neglected. Revision of our tax laws, contemplated 
by the Democratic party, should promote the advantage of such 
labor by cheapening the cost of necessaries of life in the home 
of every workingman and at the same time securing to him 
steady remunerative employment. Upon this question of tariff 
reform, so closely concerning every phase of our national life, 
and upon every question involved in the problem of good gov- 
ernment, the Democratic party submits its principles and pro- 
fessions to the intelligent suffrages of the American people. 



246 THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET. 



THE PRESIDENT S CIVIL-SERVICE MESSAGE. 

To the Congress of the United States, — Pursuant to the 
second section of chapter 27 of the laws of 1883, entitled "An 
act to regulate and improve the civil service of the United 
States," I herewith transmit the fourth report of the United 
States Civil Service Commission, covering the period between 
the sixteenth day of January, 1886, and the first day of July, 
1887. 

While this report has special reference to the operations of 
the commission during the period above mentioned, it contains, 
with its accompanying appendices, much valuable information 
concerning the inception of civil -service reform and its growth 
and progress which cannot fail to be interesting and instructive 
to all who desire improvement in administrative methods. 

During the time covered by the report, 15,852 persons were 
examined for admission in the classified civil service of the gov- 
ernment in all its branches, of whom 10.746 passed the exami- 
nation, and 5,106 failed. Of those who passed the examina- 
tion 2,977 were applicants for admission to the departmental 
service at Washington, 2,547 were examined for admission to 
the customs service, and 5,222 for admission to the postal ser- 
vice. During the same period, 547 appointments were made 
from the eligible lists to the departmental service, 641 to the 
customs service, and 3,254 to the postal service. 

Concerning separations from the classified service, the report 
only informs us of such as have occurred among employe's in 
the public service who had been appointed from eligible lists 
under civil-service rules. When these rules took effect they 
did not apply to the persons then in the service, comprising a 
full complement of employes who obtained their positions inde- 
pendently of the new law. The commission has no record of 
the separations in this numerous class, and the discrepancy 
apparent in the report between the number of appointments 
made in the respective branches of the service from the lists of 
the commission and the small number of separations mentioned 
is, to a great extent, accounted for by vacancies of which no 
report was made to the commission, occurring among those 
who held their places without examination and certification, 



CIVIL-SER VICE MESS A GE. 



247 



which vacancies were rilled by appointment from the eligible 
lists. 

In the departmental service there occurred between the 
sixteenth day of January, 18S6, and the thirtieth day of June, 
1887, among the employe's appointed from the eligible lists 
under civil-service rules, 17 removals, 36 resignations, and 5 
deaths. This does not include 14 separations in the grade of 
special pension examiners — 4 by removal, 5 by resignation, 
and 5 by death. 

In the classified customs and postal service, the number of 
separations among those who received absolute appointments 
under civil-service rules is given for the period between the 
first day of January, 1886, and the thirtieth clay of June, 1887. 
It appears that such separations in the customs service for the 
time mentioned embraced 21 removals, 5 deaths, and 18 resig- 
nations, and in the postal service 256 removals, 23 deaths, and 
469 resignations. 

More than a year has passed since the expiration of the 
period covered by the report of the commission. Within the 
time which has thus elapsed many important changes have 
taken place in furtherance of a reform in our civil service. The 
rules and regulations governing the execution of the law upon 
the subject have been completely remodelled, in such manner as 
to render the enforcement of the statute more effective, and 
greatly increase its usefulness. 

Among other things, the scope of the examinations pre- 
scribed for those who seek to enter the classified service has 
been better defined and made more practical, the number of 
names to be certified from the eligible lists to the appointing 
officers from which a selection is made has been reduced from 
four to three, the maximum limitation of the age of persons 
seeking entrance to the classified service to forty-five years has v 
been changed, and reasonable provision has been made for the ■' 
transfer of employe's from one department to another in proper.."' 
cases. A plan has been devised providing for the examination 
of applicants for promotion in the service, which, when in full 
operation, will eliminate all chance of favoritism in the advance- 
ment of employe's, by making promotion a reward of merit and 
faithful discharge of duty. » 

Until within a few weeks there was no uniform classification 
of employe's in the different executive departments of the 



248 



/ 



THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET. 



government. As a result of this condition, in some of the depart- 
ments positions could be obtained without civil-service exami- 
nation, because they were not within the classification of such 
department, while in other departments an examination and 
certification were necessary to obtain positions of the same 
grade, because such positions were embraced in the classifica- 
tions applicable to those departments. 

The exception of laborers, watchmen, and messengers from 
examination and classification gave opportunity, in the absence 
of any rule guarding against it, for the employment, free from 
civil-service restrictions, of persons under these designations 
who were immediately detailed to do clerical work. 

All this has been obviated by the application to all the de- 
partments of an extended and uniform classification embracing 
grades of employes not theretofore included, and by the adop- 
tion of a rule prohibiting the detail of laborers, watchmen, or 
messengers to clerical duty. 

The path of civil-service reform has not at all times been 
pleasant or easy. The scope and purpose of the reform have 
been much misapprehended ; and this has not only given rise 
to strong opposition, but has led to its invocation by its friends 
to compass objects not in the least related to it. Thus partisans 
of the patronage system have naturally condemned it. Those 
who do not understand its meaning either mistrust it or, when 
disappointed because in its present stage it is not applied to 
every real or imaginary ill, accuse those charged with its en- 
forcement with faithlessness to civil-service reform. Its impor- 
tance has frequently been underestimated ; and the support of 
good men has thus been lost by their lack of interest in its suc- 
cess. Besides all these difficulties, those responsible for the 
administration of the government in its executive branches have 
been, and still are, often annoyed and irritated by the disloyalty 
to the service, and the insolence, of employes who remain in 
place as the beneficiaries and the relics and reminders of the 
vicious system of appointment which civil-service reform was 
intended to displace. 

And yet these are but the incidents of an advance move- 
ment, which is radical and far-reaching. The people are, not- 
withstanding, to be congratulated upon the progress which has 
been made, and upon the firm, practical, and sensible founda- 
tion upon which this reform now rests. 



CIVIL-SERVICE MESSAGE. 



249 



With a continuation of the intelligent fidelity which has 
hitherto characterized the work of the commission, with a con- 
tinuation and increase of the favor and liberality which have 
lately been evinced by the Congress in the proper equipment 
of the commission for its work, with a firm but conservative 
and reasonable support of the reform by all its friends, and 
with the disappearance of opposition which must inevitably 
follow its better understanding, the execution of the civil-service 
law cannot fail to ultimately answer the hopes in which it had 
its origin. 

Grover Cleveland. 
Executive Mansion, July, 23, 1888. 




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